Toward an Improved Definition of the Wealthy*

A definition of the wealthy was proposed in this journal Eisenhauer, J. G. (2008). An economic definition of the middle class. Forum for Social Economics, 37, 103–113]. According to the definition, “the wealthy” are people who could live poorly for a year while living off the interest on their wealth. This paper suggests a more general definition of the wealthy, which encompasses that definition as well as ones based on the ability to live at higher standards of living than the poverty level over longer periods of time than one year while living off interest income alone. Previous empirical work is revisited to show new insights offered by the new definition. The evidence points to the reemergence of a rentier class.