Thomas Piketty: New thoughts on capital in the twenty-first century

French economist Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with his book on a simple, brutal formula explaining economic inequality: r is greater than g (meaning that return on capital is generally higher than economic growth). Here, he talks through the massive data set that led him to conclude: Economic inequality is not new, but it is getting worse, with radical possible impacts.

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[tishmfey]

I love that he speaks and thinks faster in his second language than I do in my first. Great lecture.

[Sharpov]

I'm Russian and I can understand everything he is saying. Stop the hate and ad hominem attacks.

[oNTiger]

Fellas, it's really not that hard to turn on the subtitles.

[Deceivednb]

Piketty is one of the finest economists of the 21st century so far, author of a book that has totally changed our view of economics, and all the comments can do is complain about the accent...

[flx]

His work is not to find solutions, he made a big analysis about inequality, capital and growth than nobody did before, and that's already a huge step.

[gmchico]

You people trashing his accent should go read his book. Or maybe you could go and try to learn French and see how difficult it is for a native English speaker; which would of course show you how difficult it must be the other way round.
By the way, I have Portuguese as a native language and I can undersand every word he says. More than that: I focus in WHAT HE SAYS, and it is such a powerful message.

[JohnBastardSnow]

_"We need global financial transparency"_ We do. But I doubt those who have the most wealth want it.

[anaselhaouat]

His accent is perfect; it makes you concentrate more on what he says. And it's very important indeed.

[miguelricardoarandazamudio]

Piketty's work is extraordinary. His analysis is strictly economic and in addition to being rigorous, it shows the need to interpret the economy as Marx or Webber did, taking into account the political and social variables. For example, understanding the equivalence between money and power can have a much clearer perspective on how this excessive growth of large capitalists, even above national economies, can lead to the end of democracy and to eradicate any counterweight.

[JMM]

r>g describes at most a sub-process of the concentration tendency of capital.
The problem is rather that through mechanization more and more workers fall out of the production process and thus can no longer consume. This almost appears as a class struggle between states, because the Italians and Spaniards soon cannot afford a Volkswagen.
New technologies are creating new jobs, but they cannot be performed by the old workers. No assembly line worker suddenly becomes a computer scientist.
The question is also when the point will come when the service sectors will no longer be able to absorb the dismantling of the production sectors.
And as I said, these are also regional issues. Many parts of the world are already completely cut off, while in others the middle class is breaking away and technology is migrating.
The problem is not r>g, but falling profits, as more capital is spent on machinery, less on workers. Only workers generate profit in the long run (unpaid work) - after all secondary effects, like profits of one single company through better technologies, which are declining, when others get the same machinery, are seen as individual competetive benefits.
The capital is raised by start-ups on the stock market, and they have now understood how unprofitable the real economy is and are pushing companies like Nikola, which didn't even produce a single electric truck, over Ford. Simulating profit expectations and selling off stocks before the crash, then investing in the real estate bubble again etc. pp.: thats the game.
The question is also, where do we actually want to grow to?
We could take away world hunger, offer everyone public transport and leisure activities. In Germany an unemployed person lives like a king hundreds of years ago. Billionaires buy yachts and private jets, which is ultimately the height of perversion. Prosperity grew rapidly, inequality remained, leading to absurd ownership constellations. Work and production has become an end in itself.
Piketty reduces the problem to the question of distribution of wealth, but the real question and contradiction begins in the production. One solution is seen in the taxation of the work of robots in order to finance the "tittytainment" (Brzeziński), which actually only shows how deadlocked people are on the distribution issue. Piketty didnt solved anything. He cements the problem

[SpartanF]

That is a lot of research, dedication and hard work he did. The data is a matter of interpretation, application and real world effects. Interesting but many will attack it out of fear of socialist concepts.

[mariob]

Being a foreigner I was happy to understand Pikkety’s speech much better than most speeches I’ve been hearing from native English speakers, many of them dumping bells, whistles and linguistic artifacts over the audience. Regarding content, his comprehensive work and correspondingly very synthesized outcome, in my view, are of huge value as tools to promote healthier policies for a better world. But as he said, this is not up to him, but for those people elected to do the job.

[thomasd]

00:29 - r > g
14:33 -
16:00 -

[HanZhang]

I don't know why so many complain about his accent. It's understandable and it's very amusing to listen to.

[TejasM]

In simpler sociological terms, unrestrained capitalism necessarily leads to oligarchy and the end of capitalism, with the inequality ever increasing. The only solution to make capitalism and democracy viable is to introduce high taxation for the wealthy. This solution is however not politically feasible given current dynamics. Lock and load people, we are on course for the return of serfdom, if we are not already in it.

[jamesd]

i cant see a single comment complaining about his accent but a bunch of simps who are making up this issue

[gabgabo]

The man is super smart. I've watched interviews of him on French TV and he's amongst the most articulate speakers I've heard. Why not let him do his conference in French? He's fairly popular in France, so why not have him participate in a TED talk there?

[freeworld_freeworld]

Thomas Piketty opened a lot of people's eyes to their views to modern economic. He is of the best and impactful economist in 21 century.

[sylvieasics]

Watched your movie "Capital in the 21st century" yesterday. Great job!
I wish the politicians listen to you.. quick!!

[youbian]

*When the rate of return on capital significantly exceeds the growth rate of the economy (as it did through much of history until the nineteenth century and as is likely to be the case again in the twenty-first century), then it logically follows that inherited wealth grows faster than output and income.
*
It is almost inevitable that inherited wealth will dominate wealth amassed from a lifetime’s labor by a wide margin, and the concentration of capital will attain extremely high levels—levels potentially incompatible with the meritocratic values and principles of social justice fundamental to modern democratic societies.