BERLIN ¨C French political economist Thomas Piketty¡¯s last book, ¡°Capital in the 21st Century,¡± wasn¡¯t just a publishing phenomenon: It drew the world¡¯s attention to the problem of growing inequality. In his latest work, the 1,200-page-long ¡°Capital and Ideology,¡± he proposes a solution ¡ª in a word, expropriation.
If the first work was largely an economic treatise, the second (so far only available in French) is essentially a political one. It tracks how different political ideologies have justified and promoted inequality since the Middle Ages. To Piketty, the years between 1950 and 1980 were the most successful for ¡°egalitarian coalitions,¡± by which he means parties of the left, but these have since faltered. To address that failure, he attempts to set out a manifesto for the modern left.
To Piketty, 1980 marked a regrettable turning point as leaders such as U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher turned their backs on progressive taxation. He writes:
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.