Thomas Piketty. Capital in the Twenty-First Century

It is difficult to think of a recent book by a social scientist, and impossible to think of one by an economist, that is of as much potential interest to historians as Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Its central question is an inherently historical one about the relationship between capital accumulation and inequality in the very long run. And the theory that Piketty proposes by way of an answer—that rising inequality is inherent to the dynamics of capitalism—depends for its persuasiveness on the historical analysis he draws on to substantiate it. The book also deserves historians' attention for Piketty's admonishment of economists for “their absurd claim to greater scientific legitimacy, despite the fact that they know almost nothing about anything” (p. 32), and his enthusiasm for the study of history as an antidote. Indeed, in Piketty's mind, his book is “as much a work of history as of economics” (p. 33).

Capital (architecture) · Capitalism · Economics · Enthusiasm · Epistemology · Inequality · Legitimacy · Neoclassical economics · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Economic Theory and Policy · History · Law · Philosophy

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