24.04.2025

A group of researchers from CIES and BRU, Iscte's research units, led by Nuno Nunes and Maria do Carmo Botelho, recently published the article "Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results from the World Elite Database (WED". This study is the most comprehensive comparative analysis to date of economic elites in 16 countries, which together account for more than half of the world's GDP, and is part of the international “World Elite Database” project, which brings together more than 70 researchers worldwide.

The aim of this international project is to get to know the world's economic elites through the WED database, based on their three forms of economic power: organizational, market and regulatory.  The research reveals that, although there are common traits (such as male predominance, high academic qualifications and strong national anchoring), there are significant variations between countries in terms of age, gender, geographical origin and the educational profile of the elites. These differences are not easily explained by the traditional typologies of capitalism or welfare, suggesting that economic elites are national configurations of power, shaped by their own institutional and historical factors.

With regard to Portugal, the study shows a relatively small economic elite under-represented by women. The Portuguese elites have a strong urban concentration in Lisbon and demonstrate high academic qualifications. Their composition points to a professionalized elite, with a reduced presence of large fortunes and international business elites, configuring an economic power structure more dependent on the national institutional context than on global capital dynamics.

This research represents a new stage in the study of elites on a global scale. The Financial Times recently reported on the publication in the British Journal of Sociology by the researchers of the World Elite Database.