Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a German political economist. He published The Communist Manifesto in 1848, and Capital in 1867. Based on what he saw in his experience of the transition from land capital to industrial capital, he predicted that increasing accumulation would widen the social divide between classes, ending in a revolutionary struggle on the part of the laboring classes. He also predicted the falling rate of profit. Piketty cites him as the first political economist to make significant use of statistical data.

Marx is a recurring figure throughout the book. This is because his work shares many similarities with Piketty's. Both are keenly focused not only on the nature of capital, and the logic of its growth, but also on the social repercussions that can occur if capitalist logic continues to proceed unchecked. Both also share an interest in empowering the lower classes. Other things aside, it is...