You aren't going to believe me when I tell you that the long version of Piketty's argument, which is spread over many thousands of pages of dense text, is easier to read and understand than this summary version. Unless, perhaps, you are a Talmudic or Bibilcal scholar, or proceed like those people who read "Finnegans Wake" a page at a time.

Piketty's distillation is only 274 pages but each sentence condenses a chapter or more of his long-form works. Without the longer explanations, it is too dense to understand without reference books and search engines. I have read a few of Piketty's other books and liked them better. ( )

Excellent book. Well-document history of equality in the world (mostly western). When looked at through charts and data one can see the efforts for and against equality and while we seem to be in a period of decline, it is useful to see when we were in periods of increases to equality so that we can get back on that track. Excellent book. Interesting theory (I think I came to through this book?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expenditure_cascades

Boken er et svar til de som skremmes av mursteiner der Piketty så langt har gitt ut 2 av dem; "Kapitalen i det 21.årh." (2013) og "Kapital og ideologi" (2019). Her i denne boken har han fokus på ulikheter og likheter der disse siste ser ut til å ha økt. Han problematiserer det forenklede begrepet BNP og trekker inn livsstandarder og levestandarder, tilgang til utdanning, tilgang til helsetjenester og polemiserer bl a mot Gini-koeffesienten som iflg ham blir for enkel og grov når det gjelder å beskrive utviklingstrekk og tilstander. Historien forteller om ulikheter og kreftene som opprettholder disse, men den forteller også om de siste hundre års innsats for å endre på dette. 1900-tallet brakte både den russiske revolusjon, to verdenskriger og krisen i 1929 pluss frigjøringskamper for å bli kvitt kolonistyrer. Alle disse hendelsene rammet både verdensøkonomien og menneskenes velferd. Utallige kamper ble utkjempet politisk for å opprettholde sivilisasjoner - fagforeninger og folkebevegelser i tillegg til radikale politiske ideer var helt sentrale her. Progressive skatter ble innført, formuer ble avkortet og gjeld ble slettet - store grep i reguleringens ånd som hindret samfunns sammenbrudd.

The French theorist regarding inequality shifts focus to discuss how societies became more equal and charts out ways societies could increase equality.

Most of the material in this work can be found in the author's more exhaustive history of inequality. Many of the examples are the same as well as the policy recommendations.

The author has a lot of good ideas. It would be great for socialism to get away from obsession over the means of production and to instead focus on progressive taxation and work to de-capitalize certain domains. He's right that a more enlightened socialism maintained around the world would be best. And the author has clearly not spent enough time around Americans to understand how pretty much everything he thinks should be done cuts against the grain of the American ethos.

Just go read the more expansive history of inequality. ( )

Invoering van progressieve belastingstelsels, sterk verbeterd onderwijs en de invoering van de verzorgingsstaat hebben geleid tot verbetering in verdeling van inkomen en vermogen. We weten dus dat genoemde maatregelen effectief kunnen zijn in de bestrijding van te grote verschillen in inkomen en vermogen en verbetering van levensomstandigheden van iedereen.
Daarover gaat dit boek.

Het is in het verlengde van zijn eerdere (beroemde) publicaties een soort tour d’horizon van de huidige problematiek met daarbij de verwijzingen naar de recente economische ontwikkelingen. Ook dekolonisatie speelt in deze ontwikkelingen een belangrijke rol. Het boek is uitstekend van opbouw maar wordt naar het einde toe soms toch wat vaag en “wollig”, met name wanneer het gaat over mogelijke oplossingen en noodzakelijke geachte stelselwijzigingen.

Per saldo een lezenswaardig boek. ( )