Quote Originally Posted by Grendel View Post
Depends entirely on the type of wealth. If it were stuff like gold or currency, then releasing it all back into the market would immediately collapse its value, and the impoverished class would stay poor. Even if the wealth were real resources like land, food, or oil, and even assuming the recipients knew how to use and ration it all properly, they'd likely use the wealth to start reproducing, without regard to what would be available for the next generation. Their descendants would grow in numbers beyond the carry-cap opened up by the inheritance of their parents, and within a number of generations, they'd become poor again.
The poorest worldwide (those in extreme/absolute poverty: "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.") mostly live in countries where the populace has a comparatively small impact on the earth's resources. I think also larger families tend to happen in countries where infant mortality is high and resources are scarce, perhaps partly out of a significant fear that their children will die young. I'm hopeful that the general trend now is to use wealth to find ways to live sustainably.