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Capital and Ideology

Book by Thomas Piketty · 6 quotes · Inequality, Politics, Economics

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Capital and Ideology Quotes

“Every human society must justify its inequalities: unless reasons for them are found, the whole political and social edifice stands in danger of collapse.”

Politics Left Class Society Economics Inequality Left Wing Leftism

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology

“Paradoxically, the sources available today (in the era of big data) are less precise than those that were available a century ago due to the internationalization of wealth, the proliferation of tax havens, and above all, lack of political will to enforce financial transparency, so it is quite possible that we are underestimating the level of wealth inequality in recent decades.”

Politics Technology Economics Inequality Data Tax Havens

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology

“We should not overestimate the extent of the diffusion of ownership that has taken place over the past two centuries: the egalitarian ownership society—or even, more modestly, a society in which the poorest half of the population owns more than a token share of the wealth—has yet to be invented.”

Politics Progress Economics Inequality

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology

“The reality is that extreme inequality recurs again and again; to deal with it, societies need institutions capable of periodically redefining and redistributing property rights. The refusal to do so in as transparent and peaceful a manner as possible only increases the likelihood of more violent but less effective remedies.”

Politics Economics Institutions Property Inequality

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology

“We find the same pattern in virtually every region of the world: the identity cleavage deepened and conflicts over boundaries intensified while the wealth cleavage weakened and criticism of wealth became muted.”

Politics Economics Inequality Nationalism

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology

“Billionaires think that anything goes, are enamored of geoengineering, and detest nothing so much as simple but unpleasant solutions (such as paying taxes and living quietly).”

Politics Taxes Economics Elitism Billionaires Geoengineering

Book:Capital and Ideology

Source: Capital and Ideology