Reviews can be like a second article or book. The Reviewer, consciously or unconsciously reveals his bias in selecting what to highlight or critique. There is no substitute for reading the original, especially in the case of a tome like Thomas Piketty's 685-page "Capital in the Twenty-First Century, even if "only" 577 pages are text and the rest mostly endnotes; some of those endnotes can be important too!).
In preparation for the Webinar I reviewed the notes I had taken when reading the book, though doubtless I note-took with my own biases, unquestionably in the Georgist direction to disaggregate Land from Capital, and in the Greenbacker direction to question the monopoly on money-creation by private parties. Still, I believe the notes have value, especially if one isn't going to read the "original source," Piketty himself.
Here they are, in slightly cleaned up form with page numbers referring to the hard cover edition and my reactions to Piketty's thoughts in italics. Especially important points are in bold. I provided some links for the uninitiated.
1. Difference between property in 1900-1910 and now shown -- page vii
2. Return on capital exceeds return on output and income -- page 1
3. Inequality used to be even larger than today. Piketty refers to Jane Austin and de Balzac as good and accurate literary sources for early 19th century.
4. Land rent increases during Thomas Malthus' time due to population growth -- page 4
5. Malthus wrote during time of European revolutions -- France, England (potential) -- page 5
6. David Ricardo failed to appreciate the rise of technology and industry when he was writing his thesis. Too much emphasis on agricultural land -- page 6
7. Urban land disequilibrium discussed -- page 6
8. Inequality was extreme up until WWI -- page 8
9. Says law -- "Production creates its own demand" -- page 9
10. Marx failed to use all sources available to him at the time or to account for continued technological progress.
11. Kuznet's curve -- the early to mid-20th Century tendency for all incomes to equalize due to technological progress. But this optimistic outcome was disproven by the 1980s -- page 13. This lack of progress may be due to the cold war -- page 14 or world wars -- page 15 says Piketty, but I believe has more to do with profound policy changes favoring rentiers over producers.
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