ABSTRACT Most sociological studies on the economic elite have focused on groups holding formal power in the economic field. In this paper, the Swedish economic elite is constructed in line with Thomas Piketty's notions on the richest top one per cent, but the scope extended beyond the economic analysis by combining it with a sociological perspective. Differences within this distributional group are found in the volume and composition of economic capital – as well as in other forms of capital. The elite is structured by an opposition between, first, those holding large wealth and those receiving high-wage incomes and, second, between the established elite and newcomers. Moreover, many elite studies pay attention to the routes to elite position. This paper also examines modes of reproduction from elite positions, using the education strategies employed by children of the economic elite within Swedish higher education. Such strategies are more important – and narrow – for the children of the high-income elite, revealed by their overrepresentation at certain highly selective educational institutions.