CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Thomas Piketty

	Translated by Arthur Goldhammer: Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1014, 685 pgs., index, end notes, tables, illustrations
	Reviewer comments: This is a very interesting and important book. It is about much more than what is described in the press reviews I have read. The author is a French economist. Yes, the book is about economics and is full of the typical graphs, equations and econometric material so popular with economists today. But it's about much more - political/economy in its fullest meaning. Actually it is about public policy. The author takes for granted the status quo of what he terms the 'social state' what I would call the 'welfare state'. This is very reasonable as he is convinced or presumes that this established political structure is not about to change. His thesis is that under uncontrolled conditions capital is increasing more rapidly and greater than income and the result is to greatly increase the gulf between the tiny wealthy people and the mass of the poor people. But his thesis is obviously pre-arranged to support his political agenda, which is much more taxation especially for anyone either with income or even witl acrued wealth above average. He is a typical egalitarian who would use political force to make everyone equal. Now I have a copy of a great analytical rejoinder book by Jean-Philippe Delsol and others titled Anti-Piketty. It describes the falicies and purposeful manipulations of data by Mr. Piketty much better than I can. So I will defer for the moment from a detailed study of the book. Just read Delsol.
	Introduction
	Part One- Income and Capital
	Chapter 1 - Income and Output
	Chapter 2 - Growth, Illusions and Realities
	Part Two: The Dynamics of the Capital/Income Ratio
	Chapter 3 - The Metamorphoses of Capital
	Chapter 4 - From Old Europe to the New World
	Chapter 5 - The Capital/Income Ratio over the Long Run
	Chapter 6 - The Capital-Labor Split in the Twenty-First Century
	Part Three - The Structure of Inequality
	Chapter 7 - Inequality and Concentration: Preliminary Bearings
	Chapter 8 - Two Worlds
	Chapter 9 - Inequality of Labor Income
	Chapter 10 - Inequality of Capital Ownership
	Chapter 11 - Merit and Inheritance in the Long Run
	Chapter 12 - Global Inequality of Wealth in the Twenty-First Century
	Part Four: Regulating Capital in the Twenty-First Century
	Chapter 13 - A Social State for the Twenty-First Century
	Chapter 14 - Rethinking the Progressive Income Tax
	Chapter 15 - A Global Tax on Capital
	Chapter 16 - The Question of the Public Debt
	Conclusions:

CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Thomas Piketty

Translated by Arthur Goldhammer: Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1014, 685 pgs., index, end notes, tables, illustrations

Introduction

Part One- Income and Capital

Chapter 1 - Income and Output

Chapter 2 - Growth, Illusions and Realities

Part Two: The Dynamics of the Capital/Income Ratio

Chapter 3 - The Metamorphoses of Capital

Chapter 4 - From Old Europe to the New World

Chapter 5 - The Capital/Income Ratio over the Long Run

Chapter 6 - The Capital-Labor Split in the Twenty-First Century

Part Three - The Structure of Inequality

Chapter 7 - Inequality and Concentration: Preliminary Bearings

Chapter 8 - Two Worlds

Chapter 9 - Inequality of Labor Income

Chapter 10 - Inequality of Capital Ownership

Chapter 11 - Merit and Inheritance in the Long Run

Chapter 12 - Global Inequality of Wealth in the Twenty-First Century

Part Four: Regulating Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 13 - A Social State for the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 14 - Rethinking the Progressive Income Tax

Chapter 15 - A Global Tax on Capital

Chapter 16 - The Question of the Public Debt

Conclusions:

Return to Xenophon.