Thomas Piketty

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality—the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth—today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.

A New York Times #1 BestsellerAn Amazon #1 BestsellerA Wall Street Journal #1 BestsellerA USA Today BestsellerA Sunday Times BestsellerA Guardian Best Book of the 21st CenturyWinner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year AwardWinner of the British Academy MedalFinalist, National Book Critics Circle Award“It seems safe to say that Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year—and maybe of the decade.”—Paul Krugman, New York Times“The book aims to revolutionize the way people think about the economic history of the past two centuries. It may well manage the feat.”—The Economist“Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is an intellectual tour de force, a triumph of economic history over the theoretical, mathematical modeling that has come to dominate the economics profession in recent years.”—Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post“Piketty has written an extraordinarily important book…In its scale and sweep it brings us back to the founders of political economy.”—Martin Wolf, Financial Times“A sweeping account of rising inequality…Piketty has written a book that nobody interested in a defining issue of our era can afford to ignore.”—John Cassidy, New Yorker“Stands a fair chance of becoming the most influential work of economics yet published in our young century. It is the most important study of inequality in over fifty years.”—Timothy Shenk, The Nation

A desigualdade é consequência da concentração do capital? É transmitida de geração a geração ou deriva das diferenças salariais, que por sua vez resultariam do jogo de oferta e demanda do mercado de trabalho? É possível reduzir a desigualdade de oportunidades com investimento em educação? O sistema tributário moderno é capaz de promover a redistribuição de renda ou é preciso uma grande reforma?A economia da desigualdade demonstra que o antagonismo esquerda/direita do debate político não discorda necessariamente em suas noções de justiça social, mas sim nos mecanismos econômicos que produzem a desigualdade e em como minorá-la. Em edição atualizada, incluindo gráficos e tabelas, o livro é mais uma valiosa aula de Piketty sobre a natureza da distribuição de renda e o cenário econômico mundial.“Piketty transformou nosso discurso econômico; jamais voltaremos a falar sobre renda e desigualdade da mesma maneira.”Paul Krugman (Prêmio Nobel de Economia), The New York Times“Como corrigir a desigualdade? O livro de Thomas Piketty chega na hora certa para enriquecer o debate.”Le Monde“Piketty escreve com a elegância com que a atriz Gwyneth Paltrow se veste. O capital no século XXI é um monumento de pesquisa e elegância.”Elio Gaspari, Folha de S.Paulo e O Globo“Concordo com as principais conclusões de Piketty. Espero que seu trabalho estimule mais pessoas competentes a estudar a desigualdade de riqueza e de renda. Quanto mais entendermos das causas e curas, melhor.”Bill Gates, The Gates Notes

The world's leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding. A perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books. It's easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality. Piketty guides us with elegance and concision through the great movements that have made the modern world for better and worse: the growth of capitalism, revolutions, imperialism, slavery, wars, and the building of the welfare state. It's a history of violence and social struggle, punctuated by regression and disaster. But through it all, Piketty shows, human societies have moved fitfully toward a more just distribution of income and assets, a reduction of racial and gender inequalities, and greater access to health care, education, and the rights of citizenship. Our rough march forward is political and ideological, an endless fight against injustice. To keep moving, Piketty argues, we need to learn and commit to what works, to institutional, legal, social, fiscal, and educational systems that can make equality a lasting reality. At the same time, we need to resist historical amnesia and the temptations of cultural separatism and intellectual compartmentalization. At stake is the quality of life for billions of people. We know we can do better, Piketty concludes. The past shows us how. The future is up to us.