Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a 2013 work of political economy by French economist Thomas Piketty. Piketty explores the historical evolution of wealth from the late 18th century to the present, looking at how wealth ownership changed in that time. Specifically, he asks why inequality fell between the First World War and the 1950s and why it has been increasing since. He also explores the ramifications of this growing inequality for 21st-century capitalism. This guide uses 2017 Harvard University Press edition of the text translated by Arthur Goldhammer. The book is divided into a long introduction and sixteen chapters, which are separated into four parts. Each of the analysis sections will cover first the introduction then two chapters each.

In the introduction Piketty discusses new data on wealth and income inequality that has allowed him to conduct the most wide-ranging analysis of this topic to date. He also examines past thinking on the issue. He looks at the views of David Ricardo and Karl Marx, who believed inequality would keep growing, and Simon Kuznets and Robert Solow, who believed it would stabilise. In chapters one and two, he defines the key concepts of income,

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