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When I was at uni I read Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century", and parts of his newer "Capital and Ideology" (although I never quite got through that
by angusturner 2y ago
When I was at uni I read Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century", and parts of his newer "Capital and Ideology" (although I never quite got through that one).
The big takeaway for me was that wealth inequality never improves without some major catastrophe (war, revolution, plague etc). The proposed model is really intuitive and compelling (tldr; return on capital has historically always been higher than real growth, which guarantees indefinite concentration of wealth until there's a crisis).
Last year's Nobel Economics Prize winners, Acemoglu and Robinson, tell a similar story in "Why Nations Fail", which I am working through at the moment. Although in their case, they seem be suggesting a more causal link between erosion of political and economic institutions and the collapse of empires.
I wish these ideas were more broadly accessible and understood. The real risk of total societal collapse should transcend any partisan fighting about ideal tax rates, government inflation/unemployment targets etc. Everyone has a common interest in there not being a violent upheaval (arguably the rich most of all).
Last I checked the numbers, current wealth inequality seems about as bad as it was before the great depression. And its not enough to just say "well, absolute wealth is more important". As others have pointed out, its not stable to have such huge relative wealth disparities. And that's before you even consider corruption.
- Mandelmus 2y agoThe book "The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century" by Walter Scheidel makes a similar argument: > Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world. [1] https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691183251/the-great-leveler https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691183251/th...
- demaga 2y agoI would also recommend "The Dawn of Everything" by David Graeber and David Wengrow. It explores "the roots" of inequality. A lot of interesting insights there.
- sitkack 2y agoBeware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming | Nick Hanauer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gO4DKVpa8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gO4DKVpa8
- Pooge 2y agoWhy Nations Fail was such a great book. I actually recommended it in another thread a few days ago. I didn't know Acemoglu got the Nobel Economics Prize.