Joshua Hendrickson — Unequal to the Task

A critical look at Piketty.

Despite these criticisms of Piketty’s theoretical framework and policy recommendations, one should not dismiss the contribution he has made with this book. Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a significant contribution to our understanding of the distribution of wealth and income — in particular, in his evidence suggesting that there is no inherent tendency for the distribution of income and wealth to become less unequal as countries grow. In addition, the sheer volume of data Piketty has compiled and summarized in this text is a significant contribution to economic science. Nonetheless, there is much work to be done in understanding the mechanisms that lead to inequality, and the policy implications thereof.

National Review Online
Unequal to the Task
Joshua Hendrickson | Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi