What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In this work the author analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. He 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--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values if political action is not taken. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, the author says, and may do so again. This original work reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.

An introduction to Thomas Piketty’s monumental work US Nobel Prize–winner Paul Krugman described Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century as “perhaps the most important book of the last decade.” It has sparked major international debates, dominated bestseller lists and generated a level of enthusiasm—as well as intense criticism—in a way no other economic or sociological work has in a long time. Piketty has been described as a new Karl Marx and placed in the same league as the economist John Maynard Keynes. The “rock star economist’s” underlying thesis is that inequality under capitalism has reached dramatic levels in the last few decades and continues to grow—and that this is not by chance. A small elite is making itself richer and richer and acquiring everincreasing levels of power. Given the sensational reception of Piketty’s not-so-easily digested 800-page study, the question as to where the hype around the book comes from deserves to be asked. What does it get right? And what should we make of it—both of the book itself and of the criticism it has received? This introduction lays out the argument of Piketty’s monumental work in a compact and understandable format, while also investigating the controversies Piketty has stirred up. In addition, the two authors demonstrate the limits, contradictions and errors of the so-called Piketty revolution.

A New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system. Thomas Piketty’s bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity. Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new “participatory” socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power. Capital and Ideology is destined to be one of the indispensable books of our time, a work that will not only help us understand the world, but that will change it.

Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century has enjoyed great success and provides a new theory about wealth and inequality. However, there have been major criticisms of his work. Anti-Piketty: Capital for the 21st Century collects key criticisms from 20 specialists—economists, historians, and tax experts—who provide rigorous arguments against Piketty's work while examining the notions of inequality, growth, wealth, and capital.

This volume builds upon the renewed interest in the long-run global development of wealth and inequality stimulated by Thomas Piketty. It brings together an international team of leading economic historians and economists to provide a comprehensive overview of the theory, practice, and policy of inequality and its place in the modern world order.

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been hailed as a masterpiece, making a powerful case that wealth inequality is not an accident, but rather an inherent feature of capitalism. But how many of us who bought or borrowed the book have read more than a fraction of its 700+ pages? And how many of Piketty’s groundbreaking ideas have gone unappreciated, all for want of intellectual stamina? In this handy volume, Jesper Roine – whose own work was relied upon by Piketty – explains in clear and accessible prose the key concepts behind, and controversies surrounding, Piketty’s landmark work.

Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the 21st Century has already attracted more serious attention than any economics book published in the last seventy-five years. This collection of 17 essays by some of the world's most prominent economists explores Piketty's book at depth and from various vantage points. Here is what economists around the world are already saying about this book. "Marx's Capital is strong on theory but, it detractors allege, weak on data. In a dialectic worthy of Hegel himself, the critics assembled here argue that Piketty's Capital stands opposite to Marx's, as strong on data but weak on theory. This combination--plus its exquisite timing--explains it critical acclaim. The juxtaposition of economic stagnation and obscene inequality in the aftermath of the financial crisis made it impossible for mainstream economists to continue ignoring inequality, let alone applauding it as they have done for so long. Piketty made it possible for them to acknowledge it without abandoning their comforting but false mainstream theories of capitalism. These authors in this volume applaud Piketty for his contribution to empirical knowledge, but reject his views on how this inequality came about. The true Capital for the 21st century is still yet to be written." - Steve Keen, Kingston University, London "Neoclassical economics spawned a utopian belief in capitalism with unregulated market forces. Thomas Piketty's empirical analysis has dealt a fatal blow to that belief by highlighting the recent huge redistributions of income and wealth to the ultra-rich. This raises a fundamental question for people around the world: How do we achieve a better world through economic policies? This global collection addresses that question and explores theoretical explanations for Piketty's empirical findings." - Ping Chen, Fudan University and Peking University, China "Are the theoretical explanations proposed by Thomas Piketty of the rising inequalities valid? What is the meaning of his first and second "laws" of capitalism? This book is indispensable for anyone seeking answers to these questions." - Andre Orlean, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris "By examining Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century from different angles, the 18 contributors to this invaluable book add enormously to our understanding of inequality and of policy options for reducing it. They point to the lack of a distinction between rentier income and earned income, to the severe limits of marginal productivity theory that Piketty employs and to the utopian nature of Piketty's only suggested remedy. - Norbert Haering, Economics Editor, Handelsblatt, Germany "Piketty's book Capital in the Twentieth Century served the cause of drawing the world's attention to inequality under capitalism in the long haul, based on a fresh and innovative look at new evidence. This book serves that cause even better by focusing on the inadequacies of Piketty's analysis of the processes and mechanisms leading to that inequality, and, therefore, on what needs to be done to address it." - C. P. Chandrasekhar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi "Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century was the publishing sensation of 2104, focussing the world's attention on the huge and continuing growth in inequality that poses a serious economic, political and social threat to us all. In this important new book, 18 economists from Europe, North America and Asia offer sympathetic but critical appraisals of Piketty's theoretical framework, his empirical analysis and his radical policy proposals. This is not the last word on Piketty - whatever could be? - but it is indispensable reading for everyone who is interested in one of the most important challenges of our time." - John King, La Trobe University, Australia