Posted: April 27th, 2015

The Dynamics of Capital-Income Ratio

The Dynamics of Capital-Income Ratio

Read Part II [The Dynamics of Capital-Income Ratio] from Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty and write a brief essay on the following topic:

Evaluate the validity of the following statement from Thomas Piketty –

“… there is no natural force that inevitably reduces the importance of capital and of income flowing from ownership of capital over the course of history”.

In order to obtain full points on this assignment, follow these steps –

A.    Provide a good description of Piketty’s key thesis from the book Part II.

B.    Discuss some of the critiques of Piketty’s thesis (PLEASE use the 3 links below).

C.    Conclude your essay with your own viewpoints.

Robert Solow’s balanced review: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117429/capital-twenty-first-century-thomas-piketty-reviewed

Paul Krugman’s highly favorable review: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/

A sharp critique of Piketty: http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/debraj/Papers/Piketty.pdf