Piketty’s “Capital In The 21st Century” [View all]
Has anyone here read it yet?
Top 4 radical conclusions from Pikettys Capital In The 21st Century
by: John Case
April 17 2014
French political economist and author of "Capital In The 21st Century" Thomas Piketty is making a groundbreaking book tour of U.S. policy and academic centers armed with mounds of data that is shaking up economic prognosticators. Nearly every economist of any reputation must now deal with the stunning evidence behind the inequality trends Piketty illuminates. Even Robert Solow, Nobel Prize-winning economist, famed for discounting the dangers of excessive inequality over the "the long run" in market economies, was ready to dialog with Piketty at the Economic Policy Institute's forum this past week. His book, which draws on massive data retrieved from previously untapped tax reporting resources, is literally shaking the foundations of even liberal economic thinking because of four principal conclusions:
1. Increasing concentration of wealth (primarily returns to capital) in the U.S. and Western Europe is returning to its historic dominance in the capitalist system after a brief 35-year period of relative shared prosperity. Economic surveys defining the "top" incomes as the top "20 percent" disguised the rate of concentration in recent years. When looking at the top 1 percent and higher the actual travesty of inequality is uncovered. Standard government economic data collection missed this. ...
Much more here: http://peoplesworld.org/top-4-radical-conclusions-from-piketty-s-capital-in-the-21st-century/