Understanding Modern Wealth Inequality: Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’

Summary:
This is the first in a sequence of book summaries on major works in the natural and social sciences. I provide a concise summary of French economist Thomas Piketty's 700 page book 'Capital in the 21st Century' into a 16 minute video covering ten key claims Piketty makes. Introduction 0:00 - 2:04 Claim #1: Scarcity of Data on Wealth Inequality 2:05 - 2:58 Claim #2: Income Taxes Are Recent 2:59 - 4:07 Claim #3: 1st Law of Capitalism 4:08 - 5:56 Claim #4: Inflation Affects Public Debt 5:57 - 6:36 Claim #5: Wars Cause Inflation and Public, but Lower Inequality 6:37 - 7:16 Claim #6: 2nd Law of Capitalism = s/g 7:17 - 10:01 Claim #7: Slavery Drove Wealth Inequality 10:02 - 11:27 Claim #8: Rise of the Managerial Class 11:28 - 12:04 Claim #9: Inhertance Drives Inequality 12:05 - 13:57 Claim

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Thomas Piketty considers the following as important:

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