Waarom iedereen Piketty moet lezen ?!

Robert Went (WRR) – Docentendag – 6 februari, 2015

Hoe ongelijk is Nederland? Wetenschappelijke Raad voor Regeringsbeleid

Waarom we allemaal Piketty moeten lezen ?!

Robert Went (WRR) – Docentendag – 6 februari, 2015

15 %

2645.000

Een paar facts and figures

42+

The ‘Justin Bieber of economics’

In 32 languages (or more ?)

‘Wave’ has reached Asia (Korea)

Changed the world a little bit:

“Pre-Piketty period and post-Piketty times”

[NB: He was/is not alone…]

3 Reasons to read the book

1. Piketty has changed our views and

debates on inequality, for ever

- New data (not surveys !)

- Assets (Capital, vermogen), not “just” income inequality

- Long historical views and tendencies

2. Economists (+ other social scientists)

have let us down on inequality

Famous in economic history- The big Trade-Off (Okun)- Kuznets curves

- But now attention > for consequences: growth (IMF, OECD….) + Wilkinson (WRR)

Kuznets would have been surprised (Robert Fogel NBER 2013)

3. Piketty wants - and practices -

pluralism in economics

- Real-life problems

- More history (re Summers)

-Many theories and criticism

-It works in practice, but in theory ?

Is Piketty tight ?

Is Piketty right ?My take – but please READ it yourself !

Wrong question (in 700 words ?)

He has a lot right, and many things we don’t know yet

But he has – strong argument – history on his side (+ data no longer – FT – challenged)

R > G … maybe, time will tell. “According to standard model ?”

And most importantly: Piketty has put questions on the agenda that will NOT disappear

Thank you !

Much more on @went1955