Capital and Ideology

Capital and Ideology
AuthorThomas Piketty
Original titleCapital et Idéologie
TranslatorArthur Goldhammer (English)
LanguageFrench
SubjectsPolitical economy, economic history, economic inequality, macroeconomics
Publisher
Publication date
12 September 2019
Published in English
March 2020
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages1150 pp.
ISBN978-2-02-133804-1 (France)

Capital and Ideology (French: Capital et Idéologie)[1] is a 2019 book by French economist Thomas Piketty.[2] Capital and Ideology follows Piketty's 2013 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which focused on wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States.

Described by Piketty as "in large part a sequel"[3] to its predecessor, Capital and Ideology has a wider scope, and Piketty has expressed his preference for the 2019 book.[4] In the book, Piketty outlines potential means of redistributing wealth, and explores historical and contemporary justifications for inequality.[5][6] Paul Krugman wrote of the book, "In Marxian dogma, a society's class structure is determined by underlying, impersonal forces, technology and the modes of production that technology dictates. Piketty, however, sees inequality as a social phenomenon, driven by human institutions. Institutional change, in turn, reflects the ideology that dominates society: "Inequality is neither economic nor technological; it is ideological and political."[7] Methods for redistributing wealth proposed in the book include the "inheritance for all", a payment distributed to citizens by their country at the age of 25.[5]

  1. ^ Riché, Pascal; Aeschimann, Eric (September 4, 2019). "Thomas Piketty : " Il est temps de dépasser le capitalisme "". L'Obs (in French). Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  2. ^ Charrel, Marie (12 September 2019). "Thomas Piketty : " Tous les discours décrivant les inégalités comme inévitables sont battus en brèche par l'histoire "". Le Monde. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. ^ "A bestselling economist sets out the case for socialism". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  4. ^ Horobin, William (12 September 2019). "Thomas Piketty Is Back With a 1,200-Page Guide to Abolishing Billionaires". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b Elliott, Larry (9 September 2019). "Thomas Piketty's new War and Peace-sized book published on Thursday". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  6. ^ Hadas, Edward (2020-02-28). "Breakingviews - Review: Piketty digs deep for fool's gold". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  7. ^ Krugman, Paul (2020-03-08). "Thomas Piketty Turns Marx on His Head". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-29.