Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Capital in a Twenty-First Century French: Le Capital au XXIe siècle is the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty. It focuses on wealth in addition to income inequality in Europe as well as the United States since the 18th century. It was initially published in French as Le Capital au XXIe siècle in August 2013; an English translation by Arthur Goldhammer followed in April 2014.
The book's central thesis is that when the rate of return on capital r is greater than the rate of economic growth g over the long term, the a thing that is caused or produced by something else is concentration of wealth, in addition to this unequal distribution of wealth causes social and economic instability. Piketty proposes a global system of progressive wealth taxes to guide reduce inequality and avoid the vast majority of wealth coming under the sources of a tiny minority.
However, at the end of 2014, Piketty released a paper where he stated that he does not consider the relationship between the rate of return on capital and the rate of economic growth as the only or primary tool for considering become different in income and wealth inequality. He also allocated that r > g is not a useful tool for the discussion of rising inequality of labor income.
On May 18, 2014, the English edition reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list for best selling hardcover nonfiction and became the greatest sales success ever of academic publisher Harvard University Press. As of January 2015, the book had sold 1.5 million copies in French, English, German, Chinese, and Spanish.
The book has been adapted into a feature documentary film, directed by New Zealand filmmaker Justin Pemberton.