Thursday, April 10, 2014

Capital in the Twenty-First Century Author: Thomas Piketty Publisher: Belknap Press ASIN: 067443000X

About This Book

At the heart of political economy lie questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth and the prospects for economic growth. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from 20 countries, ranging as far back as the 18th Century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings provide great insight about wealth and inequality.

Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality—the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth—threatens to generate extreme inequalities that will stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.

Robert B. Reich, writing in The Guardian, called this work "an extraordinary sweep of history backed by remarkably detailed data and analysis… Piketty’s economic analysis and historical proofs are breathtaking." (The Guardian, April 6, 2014)