Piketty

Piketty: But what next? Piketty essential argument is that there is a natural tendency for the rich to get richer. This contradicts the widely held assumption that as, economies grow and become more sophisticated, the spoils will tend to be more equally divided across society. Piketty acknowledges that such a levelling occurred in the 20th century but he describes this as a historical aberration. The old economic forces driving inequality, he says, are back. There are good reasons to be sceptical of Piketty theory. But it a valid hypothesis. And the facts of the past three decades certainly seems to support his concerns, according to The Independent. One could, of course, fill a book twice the size with the reviews and the commentary Capital has prompted. But there is a better way into the debate than consuming the Piketty media phenomenon: spend a little valuable capital and read the original yourself and Are the ambitions achieved? On the historical side the answer is yes. Perhaps the greatest contribution of this book is the data it brings to the table. Piketty throws a spotlight on the very wealthiest and those with the chunkiest incomes and puts these patterns in a long historical context. This is important because it tells the story of our time: huge wealth and huge incomes are now concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of people. Inequality is approaching 19th-century levels in the rich world. Piketty has been critiqued, but no one quibbles with his data. He has forced people to confront and debate our winner-takes-all economy. The French scholar is a fine teacher. One of the reasons for the book 600-plus page length is that he takes the reader back to first principles, assuming no specialist knowledge. The English translation by Arthur Goldhammer is limpid. Piketty says he wants the book to be widely read and his ideas debated. He has succeeded. Questions of economic theory have now reached an uncommonly large audience. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.