Interesting overview of "the rich" since Carnegie, and how the condition has varied over time, and between different portions of the world.
SURVEY: THE NEW RICH
The new wealth of nations
Jun 14th 2001
From The Economist print edition
The world is getting both wealthier and less equal. Whether that is a good
thing is increasingly up to the rich, says Matthew Bishop
THE past decade was probably the most exuberant period of wealth creation in
human history. It also produced an unprecedented number of wealthy people.
Despite the recent disappearance of some well-known dotcom tycoons, the
count of millionaires and billionaires still went up last year. The world
now has 7.2m people with investable assets of at least m, up from 5.2m in
1997. Those 7.2m dollar millionaires control about a third of the world
Original: SURVEY: THE NEW RICH