Comment by fergie
4 days ago
Every independent economist has been saying this for the last 10 years- see for example "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", a book written by French economist Thomas Piketty.
4 days ago
Every independent economist has been saying this for the last 10 years- see for example "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", a book written by French economist Thomas Piketty.
Time flies, and he’s been on my to-read list for… a while. Need to finally get around to it I guess.
He recently released a book that's kind of an abridged version. Capital in the 21st Century is 800 pages, so I don't blame you!
What's it called?
It's very good, to be fair. Even if you disagree with his politics, the data he collected is very illuminating.
What is your definition of "independent economist"?
Claiming that even a majority or plurality of economists overall agree with Piketty, who advocates for some wildly unpopular economic policies and is a literal socialist, is absurd, so your group of "independent economists" must be pretty homogeneous and small.
Independant economist: one tenured by an independent university as opposed to being employed by a lobby group or think tank to promote a specific agenda.
When even Adam Smith supports the regulation of capital, this can be considered a fairly mainstream position.
Summarizing Piketty's recommendations as "the regulation of capital" is absurd.
I can point to dozens upon dozens of independent economists (by your definition) that disagree with the use of confiscatory income tax rates and wealth taxes, so I don't know what your argument is here.