The Triumph of the Rentier? Thomas Piketty vs. Luigi Pasinetti and John Maynard Keynes

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has stimulated enormous interest. Among the most provocative parts of the book is his discussion of the economic factors making for the concentration of wealth in the long run. This is a topic of great popular interest, but it also involves some of the most subtle and controversial aspects of contemporary economic theory.

The Institute for New Economic Thinking does not take positions on such issues and we caution, as we have before, that the Institute extensively supported the World Top Incomes Database, upon which Piketty draws in his book. But we are glad to present Lance Taylor’s reflections on Piketty’s discussion, with a note that that this subject is of necessity deeply complex and perhaps not for every reader.

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