The History of Inequality Can‘t be Understood Without Politics

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I think the history of equality or nequality cannot just be an economic history. It as to b our political history. If you want to account for what you see, sometimes revolution, sometimes tax reform, sometimes political confrontation of all sorts play major roles. And i will say it's also, to some extent, to san for the nineteenth century and merse the end of the eighteenth century. I talked about the french revolution and the slave revolte sant domanso.

When it comes to the enormous reduction of income inequality during the 20th century, Thomas Piketty sees politics everywhere. In his new book, A Brief History of Equality, he argues the rising equality during the 19th and 20th centuries has its roots not in deterministic economic forces but in the movements to end aristocratic and colonial societies starting at the end of the 18th century. Drawing this line forward, Piketty also contends we must rectify past injustices before attempting to create new institutions.

He joined Tyler to discuss just how egalitarian France actually is, the beginning of the end of aristocratic society, where he places himself within French intellectual history, why he’s skeptical of data from before the late 18th century, how public education drives economic development, why Georgism isn’t sufficient to address wealth inequality, the relationship between wealth and cultural capital, his proposal for a minimum inheritance, why he turned down the Legion of Honor, why France should give reparations to Haiti despite the logistical difficulties of doing so, his vision for European federalism, why more immigration won’t be a panacea for inequality, his thoughts on Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, and more.

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Recorded March 8th, 2022 Other ways to connect

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