Capital in the Twenty-First Century (121 page)

Albert, Michel, 592n5

Allais, Maurice, 642n17, 641n40

Allen, Robert, 224–­225, 580n5, 598n4

Alternative investments, 449–­450, 454, 456

Althusser, Louis, 655n2

Alvaredo, Facundo, 17

America: income and, 63, 68; birth rate and, 79; growth in, 93; capital in, 140, 150–­158;
structure of in­e­qual­ity in, 152.
See also
North America

“American exceptionalism,” 484

American Revolution, 30, 493

Ancien Régime, 104, 106; public debt and,
127, ­129, 183; in­e­qual­ity and, 251, 263–­264, 341–­342, 480; taxation and, 493,
501

Anderson, Gosta Esping, 587n5

Andrieu, Claire, 591n18

“Annuitized wealth,” 384, 391–­392

Aristocats, The
(cartoon), 365–­366

Arnault, Bernard, 626n33

Arrow, Kenneth, 654n56

Asia: income and, 63, 66, 68, 585n24, 586n34; investment in, 70–­71; growth in, 78–­79,
82, 94, 99; capital/income ratio in, 195; financial crisis in, 535

Assets: public, 135–­139; prices of, 169–­172, 187–­191, 452–­453, 626n31; financial,
209, 627n43; real and nominal, 209–­212, 598n11; size effects of, 453–­454; taxation
of, 518.
See also
Net asset positions; Wealth

Asset structure, twenty-­first
vs.
eigh­teenth century, 118–­120, 122–­123

Atkinson, Anthony, 17, 18, 343, 581nn21,23, 582n36, 606n33, 610n26, 614n32, 622n60,
638n35

Austen, Jane, fiction of, 2, 53–­54, 105–­106, 241, 411–­412, 415–­516, 619n36, 620n40,
621n52;
Sense and Sensibility,
113, 362, 413–­414;
Mansfield Park,
115, 120–­121, 207;
Persuasion,
362

Austerity, public debt and, 541, 545–­546

Australia, 174, 177–­178

Autrer, Matthieu, 641n4

Badiou, Alain, 655n2

Bagnall, Roger S., 612n10

Bakija, Jon, 607n42

Balassa-­Samuelson model, 586n28

Balzac, Honoré de, fiction of, 2, 53–­54, 207, 411, 415–­416, 601n2, 619n36;
Père Goriot
, 104, 106, 113–­115, 238–­240, 343, 412, 440, 590n3, 620n43;
César Birotteau
, 115, 207, 214, 412–­413, 590nn2,3, 615n34, 624n15

Banerjeee, Abhijit, 17, 611n32, 634n49

Banking information: automatic transmission of, 516, 520, 521–­524, 529; Cyprus crisis
and, 554–­555

Bank of En­gland, 551–­552, 557

Bank of Japan, 551, 557, 649n22

Banks, central.
See
Central banks

Banque de France, 649n25

Barro, Robert, 135

Barry, Redmond, 620n40

Baudelot, Christian, 605n20

Bebchuk, Lucian, 611n35

Becker, Gary, 385, 616n7, 621n55

Beckert, Jens, 614n22, 616n6, 637n25, 638n33

Béguin, K., 598n7

Belle Époque, 106, 127, 132; capital/income ratio and, 148, 152, 154, 196; income
in­e­qual­ity in, 263–­264, 266–­267, 272, 282, 322; in­e­qual­ity of capital own­ership
in, 339, 342–­345, 369–­370; age and fortune in, 393–­396

Bernstein, Eduard, 219

Bettencourt, Liliane, 440–­441, 525, 642n14

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 626n32

Billionaires, 433–­434, 444–­446, 458–­459, 463, 623n7, 624n13

Birth rates, 78–­83, 587n4, 588n7

Bjorklund, Anders, 631n26

Blank, Rebecca, 608n12, 640n53

Boisguillebert, Pierre le Pesant sieur de, 56, 590n1

Book
vs.
market value, 189–­191

Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique, 597n33

Bourdieu, Jérôme, 612nn4,9

Bourdieu, Pierre, 486

Bourguignon, François, 585n20

Boutmy, Emile, 487

Bouvier, Jean, 225, 582n34

Bowley, Arthur, 219, 599nn19, 20

Bozio, Antoine, 633n46

Brady, H., 640n52

Britain: data from, 28, 56–­57; national income and, 68–­69; growth in, 98–­99, 174–­175,
510–­511; monetary system of, 105, 589–­590nn28,29; per capita income in, 106, 122,
590–­591n8,9; inflation in, 107, 133, 142, 149; capital in, 116–­127, 148–­149; foreign
capital/assets and, 117–­119, 148, 191–­192, 590n7; public debt of, 124–­126, 127,
129–­131, 133, 591n10, 591n12; public assets in, 136, 138; Canada and, 157–­158; savings
in, 177–­178; capital-­labor split in, 200–­201, 204, 205, 206–­208, 216, 224–­225,
229; taxation and, 338, 498–­499, 501, 505, 507–­512, 636n16, 638nn33,34,35; wealth
distribution in, 343–­344, 346; inheritances in, 426–­427; taxes as share of national
income in, 475–­476, 629n6; social state in, 477–­478, 629n12, 631n25

Brown, Frederick, 219–­220

Bubbles, 172, 193, 596n27, 597n30; beyond, 173–­183

Buffet, Warren, 624n14

Bush, George W., 309

Cagé, Julia, 633n48

Caillaux, Joseph, 637n24

Campion, H., 591n19

Canada, 66; in US-­Canada bloc, 62–­63; capital in, 140, 157–­158; foreign capital/assets
in, 157–­158; growth rate of, 174; savings in, 177–­178

“Capabilities” approach, 480

Capital: human and nonhuman, 21–­22, 42, 46–­47; types of, 42, 46; depreciation and,
43–­44; defined, 45–­47, 123; private
vs.
public, 46–­47; and wealth, 47–­50; economic functions of, 48; domestic
vs.
foreign, 49, 118–­119; immaterial, 49; residential
vs.
productive, 51–­52; rents and, 423–­424; reproduction of itself, 440.
See also
Foreign capital/assets; National wealth/capital; Private wealth/capital; Public wealth/capital;
Rate of return on capital

Capital
(Marx), 9, 225, 229

Capital, income from, 18, 21, 53; reduction in, 271–­275, 336–­337; in twenty-­first
century, 277–­278, 301–­302; top decile and, 279–­281, 290, 295, 301, 604–­605n12;
underestimation of, 281–­284, 294, 606n26; taxation on, 507–­508.
See also
In­e­qual­ity of capital own­ership

Capital, metamorphoses of: nature of wealth and, 113–­116; in Britain and France,
113–­139; asset structure (private) and, 116–­120, 122–­123; foreign capital and,
120–­123; public and private wealth and, 123–­129; public debt and, 129–­134; Ricardian
equivalence and, 134–­135; public assets and, 135–­139; in Germany, 140–­146; twentieth
century shocks and, 146–­150; in the United States, 150–­156, 158–­163; in Canada,
157–­158

Capital accumulation, golden rule of, 563–­567

Capital controls, 515–­516, 534–­536

Capital gains: treatment of, 283, 295, 609n13; United States and, 293, 295, 296

Capital/income ratio, 19, 25–­26, 164–­199; evolution of, 42; defined, 50–­52; fundamental
laws of capitalism and, 52–­55, 166–­170; in Britain and France, 117–­118, 126; collapse
and recovery of, 146–­150, 275; in the United States, 150–­155; capital’s comeback
and, 170–­173, 290; beyond bubbles and, 173–­183; privatization and, 183–­187; rebound
of asset prices and, 187–­191; national capital and net foreign assets and, 191–­194;
land values and, 196–­198; capital-­labor split and, 199–­203, 232–­233; falling rate
of profit and, 229; flow of inheritances and, 383–­384; world, 460–­461

Capitalism, 1; misery of, 7–­8, 446–­447; Marx on, 7–­11, 227–­230, 565; author’s
view of, 31; first fundamental law of, 52–­55, 199; second fundamental law of, 55,
166–­170; financial, 58, 515; key aspects of, 116–­118; without capitalists, 135–­139;
Rhenish, 140–­146, 191, 511; patrimonial, 154–­155, 173, 237, 471; illusion of end
of, 350, 381, 397; crisis of 2008 and, 472–­474; control of, 518, 523, 532–­537, 562,
570; central contradiction of, 571–­573

Capital-­labor split, 8, 39–­45, 199–­234; capital/income ratio and, 199–­203, 232–­233;
return on capital and, 199–­217; flows and, 203–­204; real and nominal assets and,
209–­212; marginal productivity of capital and, 212–­217; elasticity of substitution
and, 216–­224; stability of, 217–­220, 231–­232; human capital and, 223–­224; medium-­term
changes in, 224–­227, 288; falling rate of profit and, 227–­230; “two Cambridges”
and, 230–­232; capital’s comeback and, 232–­233, 290–­291; technology and, 234

Capital stock, 50–­51, 113, 119; first fundamental law of capitalism and, 52–­55,
199; accumulation of, 166–­170; too much, 212, 215–­217, 223, 227–­230; inherited
wealth and, 401–­404, 410

Capital tax.
See
Global tax on capital; Taxation, on capital

Carbon tax, 654n55

Carpentier, Vincent, 632n34

Card, David, 313, 608n10

Castel, Robert, 608n9

Categorical or schedular tax, 501

Centile, upper/top, 251, 252–­254, 259–­264, 267, 301; in twentieth century, 272,
275, 284–­286; in twenty-­first century, 277–­278; world of, 278–­281; underestimation
of, 281–­284; wages and, 290–­292, 296, 298–­300, 314–­315, 618n29; cohabitation in,
300–­303; evolution of by country and region, 315–­322, 326–­327, 329, 609–­610nn13,14,15,16,17,18,19,
610nn22,23,25; wealth distribution and, 339–­346, 348–­349, 365–­366, 438–­439, 509,
643n25; work
vs.
inheritance and, 408–­411; return on capital and, 431; oligarchic divergence and,
463; taxation and, 496

Centiles, mea­sure­ment and, 252–­255, 269–­270, 286

Central banks, 472–­473, 648n20, 649n22; Cyprus crisis and, 519, 553–­556; financial
stability and, 547–­553, 555–­556

César Birotteau
(Balzac), 115, 207, 214, 412–­413

Chabert, A., 600n29

Challenges
wealth rankings, 442, 624n18

Charles X, 613n21

Chavagneux, Christian, 628n56

China: income and, 62–­64, 66; growth in, 82, 99, 329, 429; income in­e­qual­ity in,
326–­327, 610n27, 646n42; assets of, 463, 627–­628n50; taxes in, 491, 492; regulation
in, 535–­536

Civil Code, 362–­366, 614n23

Clark, Gregory, 591n15

Class designations, 250–­252

Climate change, 567–­569

Clinton, Bill, 309

Cobb, Charles, 599n18

Cobb-­Douglas production function, 217–­220, 599n17, 600n25

Cole, Adam, 607n42

Colonial empires, 120–­121

Colonial era, 44–­45

Colqhoun, Patrick, 230

Colson, Clément, 57, 591n19, 617n10

Columbia, 327, 329

“Common utility,” 480, 630n20

Communist Manifesto, The
(Marx), 8–­9, 225

Communist movements, 8, 10

Competition: pure and perfect, 30, 212, 214, 312–­313, 332, 639–­640n48; fiscal, 208,
221, 355–­356, 373, 375, 422, 496, 562; inheritance and unrestricted, 423–­424

Concentration effects
vs.
volume effects, 410

Condorcet, marquis de, 363, 654n56

Confiscatory tax rates, 473; executive income and, 505–­508; fiscal progressivity
and, 512–­514

Conservative revolution, 98, 138–­139, 333, 511, 549

Consumption taxes, 494, 496, 651n37

Continental blocs, 59–­61, 68

Contributive justification, 524–­525

Convergence, 21–­22, 27, 571; forces favoring, 69–­71; global, 72

Corporations, 156, 203, 332; taxation on profits of, 560–­561, 650–­651n33, 651n36

Creative accounting, 214

Crédit Suisse, 437, 623n10

Cross-­investments, 194

Crouzet, François, 591n11

Cumulative growth, law of, 74–­77

Cumulative returns, law of, 75, 77

Cyprus banking crisis, 519, 553–­556

Damages
(TV series), 419

Data: importance of, 2–­3; national income as, 11–­13, 56–­59, 584n18; on income,
16–­17; on wealth, 17–­20; geo­graph­i­cal and historical boundaries of, 27–­30; developing
countries and, 58–­59

Daumond, Adeline, 582n33

Davies, James B., 638n8

Debreu, Claude, 654n56

Debt.
See
Public debt

Decile, upper/top, 251–­253, 256–­260, 261–­264; in twentieth century, 271–­273, 275–­276,
284–­286, 288; world of, 278–­281; underestimation of, 281–­284, 294–­295; wages and,
290–­294, 296–­299, 314–­315; wealth distribution and, 322–­324, 339–­346, 348–­349,
365–­366, 438–­439; return on capital and, 431

Deciles, mea­sure­ment and, 251–­255, 601n5, 602n20; interdecile ratios and, 267–­269,
603nn23,24

Declaration of In­de­pen­dence (US) (1776), 479

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), 479–­480

Defensive nationalism, 539

Deflation, 285

De Foville, Alfred, 57, 617n10

De Gaulle, Charles, 289

Delalande, Nicolas, 635n13

Dell, Fabien, 17, 615n38, 645n37

Democracy: challenge to, 21, 26–­27; rentiers and, 422–­424; transparency and, 518–­521;
control of capital and, 569–­570, 573

Demographic growth, 72–­75, 174; stages of, 77–­80; negative, 80–­83; bell curve of
global, 99, 589n24; decreased, 166–­168

Demographic transition, 3–­4, 29–­30, 78–­79, 81–­82

Denmark, 495

Depreciation, 43, 178

Deregulation movement, 138–­139

Di Bartolomeo, G., 637n26

“Difference principle” (Rawls), 480

Dirty Sexy Money
(TV series), 419

Disposable income, 180–­182

Distribution, equilibrium, 361–­366

Distribution of wealth: factorial
vs.
individual, 40, 583n3; national accounting and, 55–­59; global, 59–­69; regional
blocs and, 61–­64; upper centiles and deciles and, 322–­324, 339–­346, 348–­349, 365–­366;
in France, 337–­343, 346, 364–­366; in Britain, 343–­344, 346; in Eu­rope, 343–­345,
350; in Sweden, 344–­345, 346–­347; in the United States, 347–­350; return on capital
and unequal, 361, 571–­572.
See also
Global in­e­qual­ity of wealth; Inheritance, dynamics of

Distribution of wealth debate: data and, 2–­3, 11–­13, 16–­19, 27–­30; classical po­liti­cal
economy and, 3–­5; scarcity principle and, 5–­7; infinite accumulation principle and,
7–­11; postwar optimism and, 11–­15; in economic analysis, 15–­16; historical sources
and, 19–­20; results of current study in, 20–­22; forces of convergence and divergence
and, 22–­27; theoretical and conceptual framework and, 30–­33

Distribution tables, 267, 269–­270

Divergence, 22–­27, 424, 571; Eu­rope and North America and, 59–­61; supermanagers
and, 333–­335; mechanism of wealth, 350–­353, 431; global, 438–­439, 461–­463; oligarchic,
463–­465, 627n49