French economist Thomas Piketty

The French economist Thomas Piketty is better known for writing enormous books like 2013’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which went all the way back to the 18th century to show that personal wealth will always increase faster than economic growth, making inequality almost inevitable. But Piketty can also make a strong case in under 100 pages, as he does in Nature, Culture and Inequality, his latest book out this fall. It’s adapted from a lecture he gave in 2022, and Piketty’s conversational style makes the book highly readable. He offers two key proposals: even highly unequal societies can become more equal (and rich) without violence, and global heating will worsen unless we achieve global equality of wealth. Piketty argues that “inequality” of income, wealth and social status occurs far more thanks to cultural reasons than to personal ability or character. “It is culture in the broadest sense — and, more particularly, collective political mobilization — that provides an explanation for the diversity, degree and structure of the social inequalities we observe,” he writes. Read More