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The Piketty phenomenon: why has Capital become a publishing sensation?

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  • Wade, Robert Hunter

Abstract

Why has Piketty's Capital become a publishing sensation? Not for revolutionary findings; its message that western societies have experienced increases in inequality of income and wealth over the long term is hardly new. Of the several reasons discussed in this article, attention is paid in particular to the book's timing and its claim to reveal the laws of income and wealth distribution in western societies. Had the book been published before 2008 it would have been much less successful. Piketty's revelation of the big trends and their underlying logic helps to objectify, legitimize and offer a kind of catharsis for surging middle-class anxieties during the Great Recession. These anxieties have been further intensified by evidence that over 90 per cent of the increase in disposable income in the United States has accrued to the top 1 per cent of the population in the past several years, and a not much lower percentage to the top 1 per cent in Britain. In the conclusion it is argued that if Piketty's forecasts are even remotely accurate, capitalism will lose its core claim to legitimacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Wade, Robert Hunter, 2014. "The Piketty phenomenon: why has Capital become a publishing sensation?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60118, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60118
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60118/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert Wade, 2011. "Global Trends in Income Inequality," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(5), pages 54-75.
    2. Jay Mandle, 2004. "AT HOME The Politics of Democracy," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 53-63.
    3. Gabriel Zucman, 2013. "The Missing Wealth of Nations: Are Europe and the U.S. net Debtors or net Creditors?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 1321-1364.
    4. Robert E. Lucas, 2004. "The Industrial Revolution: past and future," Annual Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 18(May), pages 5-20.
    5. Robert Wade, 2012. "Why Has Income Inequality Remained on the Sidelines of Public Policy for So Long?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 21-50.
    6. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01053616 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Rieder, Maria & Theine, Hendrik, 2018. ""Piketty is a Genius, but...": An Analysis of Journalistic Delegitimation of Thomas Piketty's Economic Policy Proposals," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 263, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    2. Russell Jacoby, 2015. "Capital in the Twenty-First Century , Thomas Piketty (translated by Arthur Goldhammer), Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press , 2014, pp. 696, $39.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-674-43000-6," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(10), pages 1425-1427, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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