Darrell West’s U.S. Billionaires Political Power Index is a ranking of the top U.S. billionaires in terms of overall political power. There are a number of existing rankings that rate the net worth of billionaires, but no one has assessed their overall political influence.
In his forthcoming Brookings Institution Press book, Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust, Darrell West examines the political use of great wealth, including campaign expenditures, activism through nonprofit organizations and foundations, holding public office, media ownership, policy thought leadership, and behind the scenes influence.
- Charles & David Koch
- Michael Bloomberg
- Tom Steyer
- Sheldon Adelson
- George Soros
- Rupert Murdoch
- Bill and Melinda Gates
- John and Laura Arnold
- Penny Pritzker
- Warren Buffett
- Peter Thiel
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos
- Pierre and Pamela Omidyar
- Paul Singer
- Peter G. Peterson
- Marc Andreessen
- Donald Trump
- Alice Walton
— source brookings.edu