Capitalism and Inequality: Capital in the 21st Century

Data and graphs:
If you are interested in the most recent data analyses (including more beautiful graphs), check out: wid.world
Description:
The Book "Capital in the 21st Century" by Thomas Piketty is groundbreaking in several ways. First, it is the most comprehensive data analysis that ever existed on the topic. Second, it contradicted previous theories (the Kuznets Hypothesis). Third, it reveals in great detail how capitalism systematically causes inequality. This book review focusses on the third point. In this video, I present key mechanism that explain rising levels of inequality. Thereby, I explain income inequality in the first and wealth inequality in the second part of the video.
Sources:
First stat (bottom 20% vs top 20% of income): ourworldindata.org/income-ine...
The other graphs and figures are from the book. Note that there is a stark difference between the calculations by the world bank and Piketty. This is caused by imperfect data and different approaches to estimation. Piketty elaborates in great detail about this in the book - so check that out if you are interested.

Пікірлер: 14

  • @MrPicoletti
    @MrPicoletti4 жыл бұрын

    What a great and illustrative overview of his book - thanks!

  • @robertschlesinger1342
    @robertschlesinger134210 ай бұрын

    Excellent video. A must see video for everyone.

  • @tonyk2614
    @tonyk26142 ай бұрын

    Informative and balanced, and hyperbole-free! Thank you.

  • @lorenacortes5978
    @lorenacortes59784 ай бұрын

    Amazing and very clear! Thank you!

  • @lucas8374
    @lucas837410 ай бұрын

    A better view/scope for this video and further analysis of this literature is "Capitalism & Inequity". Piketty's conclusions recognize that Capitalism as a socio-economic political structure leads to and reinforces widening inequity. The solutions that are also alluded to in the book further work to explain how the spread of capital leads to the spread of Equity.

  • @jamesmorton7881
    @jamesmorton78813 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful guide to why things are. Thank you Sir. graphics A+ dialog A- pace A+ logical relationships, model acurate for modern history

  • @loucious22
    @loucious223 жыл бұрын

    My house makes more money than I do

  • @jamesmorton7881

    @jamesmorton7881

    3 жыл бұрын

    I get more wealth, now that i am retired. Labor sucks. CAPITALSIM is not for labor. pun intended. Dr. Richard Wolff: Labor Day 2020 when tens of millions of US workers are jobless, the desperately needed extra $600 per week unemployment compensation is being reduced, and millions of jobs will never return? What should the US majority - employees - do as employers cut their wages and benefits, threatening to replace them from millions of jobless desperate for paid work? To answer such questions, we must face the real conditions of the working class today. The profiteers - the big, corporate firms that dominate the US economy - have gained greatly at workers’ expense, especially over the last 40 years. They installed technology that cost millions of jobs. They relocated production overseas where wages and other costs are lower. The combination of fewer jobs and more people looking for them kept wages from rising for a long time. Skilled, secure, and well-paid jobs gave way to low-skill, insecure, and poorly paid positions. Labor unions lost members and power. Meanwhile, the income of the top 5% - employers and their top executives - grew dramatically at everyone else’s expense. US capitalism redistributed wealth upwards, from the middle and the poor to the rich. Employers and the Republican Party together deprived unions of their former power. The Democratic Party proved unwilling or unable to protect labor’s interests; it kept promising but not delivering. Automation, outsourcing jobs, and shrinking union memberships and power produced workers’ mounting hardships, bitterness, and anger. Taking on mountains of debt (for mortgages, autos, credit cards and college educations) only worsened their hardships. Then US capitalism’s 2008 crash exposed how the richest used the government to bail themselves out and further deepen inequality. Employees saw the US becoming a small knot of the super-wealthy surrounded by a sea of economic pain. Some upset and angry workers voted for Trump in 2016. They wondered whether a Trump/GOP government would deliver on its promises to “make America great again” by reversing the long decline of its working class majority. By now it should be clear that Trump’s promises may be more, louder and extreme, but they too have been broken. Inequality has gotten worse, government failure to prepare for or contain Covid-19 is catastrophic, and managing capitalism’s 2020 crash is another gross exercise in unjust economics. The last 40 years show that expecting protection or support for labor’s economic well-being from Republicans or Democrats is a tragic mistake. Labor leaders writing protest op-eds in newspapers will not work. Making some protest remarks while endorsing yet another Democratic Party ticket just repeats past mistakes. US capitalism’s decline continues as competing economies rise (China, the European Union, the BRICS countries, and so on). The rich in the US use their wealth to grab and hold everything they can amidst decline. Without a changed strategy, working class conditions will be taken down with and by the system’s decline. What the working class can do is move into the streets to stop “business as usual” until steps are taken to reverse the last 40 years’ redistribution of wealth. Workers must also stop endorsing and voting for candidates who do not serve their interests. Nothing would better show workers’ seriousness about reversing the last 40 years than building a new labor-based political party to change US politics.

  • @chemistryjeeneetsat3246
    @chemistryjeeneetsat32463 жыл бұрын

    Background noise music should not be there

  • @kittuojha
    @kittuojha4 жыл бұрын

    why the music ...... why......

  • @practicalphilosophy3711

    @practicalphilosophy3711

    4 жыл бұрын

    will do the next one without music - will only take a few more month ;)

  • @SunnyHomeVideos
    @SunnyHomeVideos Жыл бұрын

    I choose spiritualism. This realm is an illusion and we aren't here forever.

  • @balaur9997
    @balaur9997 Жыл бұрын

    They win only because , we all play them game …… fuck money and them sistem -.-

  • @ivandate9972
    @ivandate99722 жыл бұрын

    inequality became a problem if ordinary people does not understand economics logic.. so the solution was .. teach them economics logic.