We’ll discuss chapter 2 of “A Brief History of Equality”, by Thomas Piketty. It may be helpful to preview graphs 4-6 in the companion pdf. What is property? How does it differ over time, and among societies? How has its distribution changed through time? What about income?

In short, the least wealthy half of the population has never owned much, but are treated better than they used to be. The next 40%, and the 9% above them, dramatically increased their shares of wealth over the last century. Still, the richest 10% holds about 55% of wealth, and the top 1% holds 25%. Piketty argues that this progress has real benefits, and that it can be improved. The picture on income is similar, although inherited wealth is a smaller factor in income than in property distributions.

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