A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’

Bodo Herzog

doi:doi:10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

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A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’

Bodo Herzog

Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6)

Received: 16 November 2014 Accepted: 4 December 2014 Published: 16 December 2014

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Abstract

This paper is a brief review on the book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ by the French scholar Thomas Piketty. The book has started a new debate about inequality and capital taxation in Europe. It provides interesting empirical facts and develops a theory of the functioning of capitalist economies. However, I personally think the book is less convincing than recognized in the public debate. The demonstrated theory of economic growth in the book is elusive and lacks a psychological and behavioral underpinning. In fact, I do think that the increasing inequality and economic divergence are caused by capitalism but the psychological and behavioral aspects of humans are of similar or greater significance. Therefore, Piketty’s argument does not stimulate an open and scientifically founded debate in all aspects.

Published in	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
Page(s)	207-211
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Inequality, Poverty, Behavioral Economics, Capital Taxation, Eurozone Crisis

References

[1]	TIME Magazine, Here’s Why This Best-Selling Book Is Freaking Out the Super-Wealthy, 23. April 2014.
[2]	Milanovic, B., The Return of ‘Patrimonial Capitalism’: A Review of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 52, No. 2, 519-34, 2014.
[3]	Piketty, T., Capital In The Twenty-First Century, Harvard University Press, 2014.
[4]	De Grauwe, P., Lecture on Behavioral Macroeconomics, Princeton University Press, 2012.
[5]	Krugman, P., Geography and Trade, MIT Press, 1993
[6]	Krugman, P., What’s New About The New Economic Geography?, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 7-17, 1998.
[7]	Anderson, D., Barkbu, B., Lusinyan, L., Muir, D., Assessing the Gains from Structural Reforms for Jobs and Growth, Chapter 7, IMF Report on Jobs and Growth: Supporting the European Recovery, 2014.
[8]	Nordhaus, W.D., The Political Business Cycle, Review of Economic Studies, p. 169-190, 1975.
[9]	Shi, M. and Svensson, J., Political Budget Cycles: Do They Differ Across Countries and Why?, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 90, pp. 1367-1389, 2006.
[10]	German Council of Economic Experts, More Confidence in Market Processes, Chapter 6: The German Current Account – Actionism Is Inappropriate, annual report, 2014.
[11]	Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A., Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, Science, Vol. 185, No. 4157, p. 1124-1131, 1974.
[12]	European Central Bank, The Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey, Statistics Paper Series 2, April, 2013.
[13]	Kalckreuth U., T. Schmidt, M. Eisele, J. Le Blancc, J. Zhu, The PHF: a comprehensive panel survey on household finances and wealth in Germany, Discussion Paper 13/2012, Deutsche Bundesbank, 2012.
[14]	Eggertsson, G. Ferrero, A. and Raffo, A., Can structural reforms help Europe?, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 61, p. 2-22, 2014.

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Bodo Herzog. (2014). A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6), 207-211. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

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ACS Style

Bodo Herzog. A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2014, 3(6), 207-211. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

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AMA Style

Bodo Herzog. A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychol Behav Sci. 2014;3(6):207-211. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

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@article{10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15,
  author = {Bodo Herzog},
  title = {A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’},
  journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
  volume = {3},
  number = {6},
  pages = {207-211},
  doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20140306.15},
  abstract = {This paper is a brief review on the book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ by the French scholar Thomas Piketty. The book has started a new debate about inequality and capital taxation in Europe. It provides interesting empirical facts and develops a theory of the functioning of capitalist economies. However, I personally think the book is less convincing than recognized in the public debate. The demonstrated theory of economic growth in the book is elusive and lacks a psychological and behavioral underpinning. In fact, I do think that the increasing inequality and economic divergence are caused by capitalism but the psychological and behavioral aspects of humans are of similar or greater significance. Therefore, Piketty’s argument does not stimulate an open and scientifically founded debate in all aspects.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’
AU  - Bodo Herzog
Y1  - 2014/12/16
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
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JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
AB  - This paper is a brief review on the book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ by the French scholar Thomas Piketty. The book has started a new debate about inequality and capital taxation in Europe. It provides interesting empirical facts and develops a theory of the functioning of capitalist economies. However, I personally think the book is less convincing than recognized in the public debate. The demonstrated theory of economic growth in the book is elusive and lacks a psychological and behavioral underpinning. In fact, I do think that the increasing inequality and economic divergence are caused by capitalism but the psychological and behavioral aspects of humans are of similar or greater significance. Therefore, Piketty’s argument does not stimulate an open and scientifically founded debate in all aspects.
VL  - 3
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Bodo Herzog

Department of Economics, Reutlingen, Germany

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APA Style

Bodo Herzog. (2014). A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6), 207-211. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Bodo Herzog. A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2014, 3(6), 207-211. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Bodo Herzog. A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’. Psychol Behav Sci. 2014;3(6):207-211. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15,
  author = {Bodo Herzog},
  title = {A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’},
  journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
  volume = {3},
  number = {6},
  pages = {207-211},
  doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20140306.15},
  abstract = {This paper is a brief review on the book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ by the French scholar Thomas Piketty. The book has started a new debate about inequality and capital taxation in Europe. It provides interesting empirical facts and develops a theory of the functioning of capitalist economies. However, I personally think the book is less convincing than recognized in the public debate. The demonstrated theory of economic growth in the book is elusive and lacks a psychological and behavioral underpinning. In fact, I do think that the increasing inequality and economic divergence are caused by capitalism but the psychological and behavioral aspects of humans are of similar or greater significance. Therefore, Piketty’s argument does not stimulate an open and scientifically founded debate in all aspects.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Review on ‘Capital in the 21th Century’
AU  - Bodo Herzog
Y1  - 2014/12/16
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
T2  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JO  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
SP  - 207
EP  - 211
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7845
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140306.15
AB  - This paper is a brief review on the book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ by the French scholar Thomas Piketty. The book has started a new debate about inequality and capital taxation in Europe. It provides interesting empirical facts and develops a theory of the functioning of capitalist economies. However, I personally think the book is less convincing than recognized in the public debate. The demonstrated theory of economic growth in the book is elusive and lacks a psychological and behavioral underpinning. In fact, I do think that the increasing inequality and economic divergence are caused by capitalism but the psychological and behavioral aspects of humans are of similar or greater significance. Therefore, Piketty’s argument does not stimulate an open and scientifically founded debate in all aspects.
VL  - 3
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download