Piketty: Inequality matters

Svar på kritikken mot Pikettys bok om at han ikke viser hvorfor ulikhet/ inntektsfordeling betyr noe i Kapitalen i det 21. århundre. FNs rapport om «World Social Situation 2013» gir oss  gode svar på dette:

High levels of inequality can be a serious impediment to future economic growth and a potential cause of underdevelopment. Berg and Ostry (2011) examined the relationship between income inequality and economic growth across 174 countries, to reveal that income inequality was a strong determinant of the quality of growth, even when market structure and other institutional  actors were taken into account. Countries with low levels of inequality tend to sustain high rates of growth for longer  durations, while growth spurts tend to fade more quickly in more unequal countries. Similarly, growth in more unequal countries can be much slower than that in countries with low initial levels of inequality (s. 64)

[…]

While the relationship is not clear-cut, there are persuasive arguments that it was the combination of growing inequality, wage stagnation and fi nancial deregulation that fuelled the global fi nancial crisis of 2008-2009. (s.64).

Hvis du tar en titt inne i FN-rapporten vil du se at de angir en mengde kvalifiserte kilder for påstandene over.

Les de to hovedinnvendingene mot Pikketys bok her:

Two main substantive critiques have been leveled against the book. The first faults Piketty for placing inequality at the center of analysis without any reflection on why it matters. He merely assumes that inequality matters, but never explains why, only demonstrates that it exists and how it worsens.The second critique is that Piketty has no theory of growth. He does not explain where capital comes from, how it is accumulated, or how it might be further generated in the economy.