Capital in the Twenty-first Century

Capital in the Twenty-first Century is a 2013 book by French economist Thomas Piketty. The book argues that the fundamental driver of inequality in capitalist societies is the tendency for the rate of return on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth. This means that inherited wealth grows faster than earned income, leading to increasing concentrations of wealth and exacerbating economic inequality.12

Piketty's analysis, based on two centuries of tax data from Europe and the United States, suggests that without intervention, capitalism naturally tends toward a state of "patrimonial capitalism," where wealth is primarily inherited rather than earned through labor. He proposes policy solutions such as progressive global wealth taxes and higher income taxes to address this trend and mitigate extreme inequality. The book sparked significant debate among economists and policymakers regarding the future of capitalism and the distribution of wealth.12