Summary

Piketty begins chapter two by leaving off on the question of convergence that ended the previous chapter. He now emphasizes that the world is returning to a “low-growth regime.” He sets out to show slow growth is normal throughout history, except in “exceptional periods or when catch-up is occurring” (72). Piketty predicts that demographic growth will be slower in the future. Growth can occur in two forms: population growth and per capita output growth.

Before he begins discussing growth, he provides an overview of growth as it has occurred through much of human history, starting from the year 0 up until 2012. The portrait shows that significant growth did not start happening until 1700, when the average annual growth rate for the years 1700-1820 measured 0.5%. In the preceding centuries from 0-1700, this number was 0.1%. According to the law of cumulative growth, whereby gains made in the previous year...