Tyler Cowen — The other new French book on inequality

It is The Society of Equals, by Pierre Rosanvallon, and it is a transatlantic look at how the notion of inequality has changed over the last three centuries....

Roger Berkowitz has a very good review here, excerpt:

As does Piketty, Rosanvallon employs philosophy and history to characterize the return of inequality in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. And Rosanvallon, again like Piketty, worries about the return of inequality. But Rosanvallon, unlike Piketty, argues that we need to understand how inequality and equality now are different than they used to be. As a result, Rosanvallon is much more sanguine about economic inequality and optimistic about the possibilities for meaningful equality in the future.

Things have really improved since the abolition of slavery in the developed world.

Seriously, though, the question is whether trickle down is the answer. Some think it is, and others don't. There are agruments on both sides, and this issue is not going to be decided on the basis of debate but rather politically, either more or less peacefully or else through conflict.

Marginal Revolution
The other new French book on inequality
Tyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center