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Assessing Piketty’s laws of capitalism

Author

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  • Jakob B. Madsen
  • Antonio Minniti
  • Francesco Venturini

Abstract

This paper tests Piketty's predictions that in the long run (i) the capital-income ratio, K-Y, is driven by the ratio between the rates of saving and income growth, s and g; and that (ii) the capital share of income responds to variations in the s-g ratio, along with the rate of return on capital, r. We assess the two predictions using both Piketty and Zucman's (2014) original data and a new long historical dataset covering 21 OECD countries. Our findings corroborate Piketty’s theory in the very long run (1870-2010), whilst evidence for the latest decades is less robust (1970-2010).

Suggested Citation

  • Jakob B. Madsen & Antonio Minniti & Francesco Venturini, 2015. "Assessing Piketty’s laws of capitalism," Monash Economics Working Papers 34-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2015-34
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    File URL: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/eco/research/papers/2015/3415capitalismmadsenminnitiventurini.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Berman, Yonatan & Shapira, Yoash, 2017. "Revisiting r>g—The asymptotic dynamics of wealth inequality," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 467(C), pages 562-572.
    2. Fakir, Adnan M.S. & Ahmad, Azraf Uddin & Hosain, K.M. Masnun & Hossain, Mostafa Rafid & Gani, Ridhim Sadman, 2017. "The comparative effect of corruption and Piketty’s second fundamental law of capitalism on inequality," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 90-105.

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