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The Three Must-Reads You Need to Understand Thomas Piketty and His "Capital in the Twenty-First Century": Focus - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

I have a new list of three articles that bring you up to speed on the current state of the process of assessing and assimilating Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century: Thomas Piketty: Putting Distribution Back at the Center of Economics: Reflections on Capital in the Twenty-First Century: “In my view, the magnitude of the gap between r and g is indeed one of the important forces that can explain historical magnitudes and variations in wealth inequality: in particular, it can explain why wealth inequality was so extreme and persistent in pretty much every society up until World War I…. That said, the way in which I perceive the relationship between r > g and wealth inequality is often not well-captured in the discussion that has surrounded my book–even in discussions by research economists…. For example, I do not view r > g as the only or even the primary tool for considering changes in income and wealth in the 20th century, or for forecasting the path of income and wealth inequality in the 21st century. Institutional changes and political shocks–which can be viewed as largely endogenous to the inequality and development process itself…. My book is primarily about the history of the distribution of income and wealth…. My book is probably best described as an analytical historical narrative based upon this new body of evidence. In this way, I hope I can contribute to placing the study of distribution and of the long-run back at the center of economic thinking…. In this essay, I will take up several themes from my book that have perhaps become attenuated or garbled…. I stress the key role played in my book by the interaction between beliefs systems, institutions, and the dynamics of inequality…. I briefly describe my multidimensional approach to the history of capital and inequality…. I review the relationship and differing causes between wealth inequality and income inequality…. I turn to the specific role of r > g in the dynamics of wealth inequality…. I consider some of the scenarios that affect how r−g might evolve in the 21st century…. Finally, I seek to clarify what is distinctive in my historical and political economy approach to institutions and inequality dynamics, and the complementarity with other approaches…”
#Thomas-Piketty #Capital-in-the-Twenty-First-Century - equitablegrowth.org