The latest publishing sensation is French economist Thomas Piketty’s 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century'. Unusually for an economics book, this has become a top seller on Amazon. Clearly, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, with rising unemployment, slow economic growth, and continuing revelations of abuse and greed in high places, there is a demand for some new economic thinking.
Mr Piketty’s book provides evidence that the portions of wealth owned by the top 1% and top 10% of the population are climbing back to the highly skewed levels witnessed in the early part of the 19th century. His corresponding argument, that the way to counter this is through more redistribution, is therefore appealing. But appealing does not mean profound.
