Quotessence
Home / Authors / Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty

Thomas Piketty Quotes

Economist

Filter quotes by topic

AllInequalityEconomicsWealthPoliticsCapitalDemocracyIncomeCapitalismEconomistGrowth

Famous Thomas Piketty Quotes

“When the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based.”

FirstsSeemsValuesGrowthDemocracySocietyCenturyReturnCapitalismTwentiesDemocraticRateIncomeInequalityArbitraryExceedNineteenth CenturyDemocratic SocietyOutputUndermining
Book:Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Create image

“What was the good of industrial development, what was the good of all the technological innovations, toil, and population movements if, after half a century of industrial growth, the condition of the masses was still just as miserable as before, and all lawmakers could do was prohibit factory labor by children under the age of eight?”

IfsChildrenStillsAgeGrowthHalfConditionsCenturyMovementDevelopmentMassLaborInnovationPopulationEightMiserableFactoriesTechnologicalToilLawmakersHalf A Century
Book:Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Create image

“Contrary to a tenacious myth, France is not owned by California pension funds or the Bank of China, any more than the United States belongs to Japanese and German investors. The fear of getting into such a predicament is so strong today that fantasy often outstrips reality. The reality is that inequality with respect to capital is a far greater domestic issue than it is an international one.”

StatesRealityTodayStrongUnitedUnited StatesFantasyIssuesGreaterInternationalChinaMythContraryInequalityFranceCaliforniaFundInvestorsPensionPredicamentsTenacious
Author:Thomas Piketty
Create image

“There is one great advantage to being an academic economist in France: here, economists are not highly respected in the academic and intellectual world or by political and financial elites. Hence they must set aside their contempt for other disciplines and their absurd claim to greater scientific legitimacy, despite the fact that they know almost nothing about anything.”

KnowsWorldFactsPoliticalGreaterDisciplineIntellectualAdvantageClaimsFinancialAbsurdDespiteFranceContemptAcademicElitesEconomistLegitimacy
Book:Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Create image