French - Economist | May 7, 1971 -
I am not political. It is not my job. But I would be happy if politicians could read my work and draw some conclusions from it.
Thomas Piketty
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What I argue for is a progressive tax, a global tax, based on the taxation of private property.
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There is a fundamentalist belief by capitalists that capital will save the world, and it just isn't so.
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I think inequality is fine, as long as it is in the common interest. The problem is when it gets so extreme, when it becomes excessive.
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Economists have put themselves in a position where what they are doing is supposed to be impossible to understand for outsiders, so they don't even talk - sometimes not even with their girlfriend or boyfriend or friends - about what they are doing.
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When you are an entrepreneur, you have founded your own firm, it is so easy to find that you exist - you are the main shareholder of your company; it is very easy to look at the stock market position of your company to know how rich you are.
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I believe in the power of ideas, I believe in the power of books, but you have to give them time.
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I certainly agree that capital is not a one-dimensional object, and that the return on capital takes very different forms for different assets or different people.
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Private property and the market system are good not only to promote innovation and to promote growth; private property and the market system are good for our personal freedom.
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Economists should be modest and be aware that they are part of the broader social science community. We need to be pragmatic about the methods we use. When we need to do history, we should do history. When we need to study political science, we should study political science.
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