Pri BBC-ju so pripravili kratek video povzetek vplivne knjige francoskega ekonomista Thomasa Pikettya z naslovom Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
Paul Krugman je bistvo tega obsežnega dela opredelil kot zelo močan argument proti temeljni tezi konservativcev oziroma desnice:
What’s really new about “Capital” is the way it demolishes that most cherished of conservative myths, the insistence that we’re living in a meritocracy in which great wealth is earned and deserved. (The Piketty Panic – NYTimes.com)
Še nekaj drugih povzetkov vsebine:
“Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century is the most important economics book of the year, if not the decade. It’s also 696 pages long, translated from French, filled with methodological asides and in-depth looks at unique data, packed with allusions to 19th century novels, and generally a bit of a slog.
The good news is that there’s no advanced math, and anyone who puts in the time can read the book. But if you just want the bottom line, we have you covered.
Piketty’s argument in four bullet points:
- The ratio of wealth to income is rising in all developed countries.
- Absent extraordinary interventions, we should expect that trend to continue.
- If it continues, the future will look like the 19th century, where economic elites have predominantly inherited their wealth rather than working for it.
- The best solution would be a globally coordinated effort to tax wealth.
… The provocative argument of Capital in the 21st Century is that market capitalism, including the kind of welfare state capitalism practiced in continental Europe, will eventually lead to an economy dominated by those lucky enough to be born into a position of inherited wealth.” (The short guide to Capital in the 21st Century – Vox)
“Mr. Piketty’s work is a challenge both to Marxism and laissez-faire economics. The book’s core finding, based on centuries of data, is that the rate of growth of income from capital is several times larger than the rate of economic growth, meaning a shrinking share going to income earned from wages. … Inequality by itself is acceptable, he says, to the extent it spurs individual initiative and wealth-generation that, with the aid of progressive taxation and other measures, helps makes everyone in society better off. … Democracy is not just one citizen, one vote, but a promise of equal opportunity. … One of the big lessons of the 20th century is that we don’t need 19th-century inequality to grow. But that’s just where the capitalist world is heading again, he concludes. … He favors a progressive global tax on real wealth (minus debt), with the proceeds not handed to inefficient governments but redistributed to those with less capital.”(Vir: Taking On Adam Smith (and Karl Marx) – NYTimes.com)
