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Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Book

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Thomas Piketty
Belknap Press, 2014
First Edition: 2014

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Innovative

Recommendation

Brick-shaped economics tomes rarely top the bestseller lists, but this one did, and it made a big splash in politics and academia, too. Professor Thomas Piketty is not the first economist to tackle the problem of growing inequality, but with his epic research, he can claim to be among the most thorough, while at the same time presenting original and accessible arguments that have made economics come alive for many readers. This masterwork offers a convincing narrative on ways to counter capitalism’s defects.

Take-Aways

  • The key to understanding wealth inequality lies in studying economic history and its patterns.
  • Rates of return on capital tend to be greater than the growth rates of economies.
  • Two world wars and a depression in the 20th century temporarily reduced the underlying trend toward inequality.

About the Author

Thomas Piketty is a professor of economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and at the London School of Economics, and an associate chair at the Paris School of Economics. He is also the author of Capital and Ideology and The Economics of Inequality.

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