Summary

Having analyzed the distribution of wealth and the structure of inequality since the eighteenth century, Piketty shifts his attention to what lessons can be drawn from these findings as they concern the future. He states that inequality is best prevented through the institution of a progressive global tax on capital. But before delving into this topic, Piketty clarifies what taxes are, starting with the governing body that levies them: the state.

Piketty uses the Great Depression and the Great Recession of 2008 as historical examples to illustrate the two different ways in which the government intervened in these separate crises. The robustness of the government’s response to the Great Depression, as well as its weak response to the events of 2008, both highlight the advantages and the need for a social state in the twenty-first century (472-4).

Piketty then plots the growth of the...