R greater than g is the central contradiction of capitalism, you say. What does this mean? It means that if you own a lot of wealth to begin with, then you can consume a four fifths the return to your capital and you can re invest only one fifth of the return,. And this will be enough to ensure that your wealth will rise at the same speed as the size of the economy. The gross rate of the economy is determined those by demographic forces, by innovation. But other things equal, a bigger gap between r and g will lead to an equilibriiam distribution of wealthnd that will involve more reproduction, overtime of inequality.
Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century talks to Econtalk host Russ Roberts about the book. The conversation covers some of the key empirical findings of the book along with a discussion of their significance.