Having a decent share of the national wealth for the middle class is not bad for growth. It is actually useful both… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
The U.S. is the country that invented progressive taxation of income and of inherited wealth in the 1910s and '20s. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
It's important to realize that innovation and growth in itself are not sufficient to moderate inequality of wealth. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
My premise is not to tax to destroy the wealth of the wealthy; it's to increase the wealth of the bottom and… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
Capitalism and market forces are very powerful in producing wealth and innovation. But we need to ensure that these forces act in… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
One way to have broader access to wealth is to reduce the tax on the large group and increase the tax on… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
Wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
I think if you look back through time, the history of income, wealth and taxation is full of surprise. So I am… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
“The sharp reduction in income inequality that we observe in almost all the rich countries between 1914 and 1945 was due above… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
“When the rate of return on capital significantly exceeds the growth rate of the economy (as it did through much of history… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
The democratic ideal has always been related to a moderate level of inequality. I think one big reason why electoral democracy flourished… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
“Our democratic societies rest on a meritocratic worldview, or at any rate a meritocratic hope, by which I mean a belief in… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
“For millions of people, “wealth” amounts to little more than a few weeks’ wages in a checking account or low-interest savings account,… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
We know too little about global wealth dynamics, so we need international transmission of bank information. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
Market forces and capitalism by themselves aren't sufficient to ensure the common good and to limit the concentration of wealth at levels… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share Image
It's not Utopian to believe that we can create a global registry of financial assets so we know who owns what in different countries. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“US inequality in 2010 is quantitatively as extreme as in old Europe in the first decade of the twentieth century, but the structure of… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
The United States could transform its property tax system into a progressive tax on net worth without asking permission to the rest of the… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“When it comes to decreasing inequalities of wealth for good or reducing unusually high levels of public debt, a progressive tax on capital is… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“In other words, low growth cannot adequately counterbalance the Marxist principle of infinite accumulation: the resulting equilibrium is not as apocalyptic as the one… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“I belong to a generation that came of age listening to news of the collapse of the Communist dicatorships and never felt the slightest… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
When you are an entrepreneur, you have founded your own firm, it is so easy to find that you exist - you are the… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
There is one great advantage to being an academic economist in France: here, economists are not highly respected in the academic and intellectual world… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
Without precisely defined sources, methods, and concepts, it is possible to see absolutely everything and its opposite. — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“the population of the world grew at an average annual rate of barely 0.8 percent between 1700 and 2012.” — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“The sharp reduction in income inequality that we observe in almost all the rich countries between 1914 and 1945 was due above all to… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“Progress in medicine together with improved living conditions has therefore, it is argued, totally transformed the very essence of capital.” — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
“the decrease in the top marginal income tax rate led to an explosion of very high incomes, which then increased the political influence of… — Thomas Piketty Copy Share
