Scan barcode
chrisdech's review against another edition
3.0
Piketty's basic premise is theoretically sound, and perhaps even obligatory when we live in such a world of rampant global inequality. His core argument is that the (or, a) solution to inequality requires significant fiscal redistribution through transfer payments and other reinvestments into the common people.
Unfortunately, this book is hampered by what I feel to be dense language, whether economics jargon or otherwise. Call it inexperience, but for someone studying economics, it grew boring to read at times purely because the language was a little repetitive and hard to follow.
My other critique is that the book is more or less a republishing of the same book from the 90s, which I fear may mislead readers in terms of how inequality has evolved into the 21st century and the 2010s and 2020s. Perhaps the average reader of this book will keep in mind that this book came from a time before I was even born, but I think this book does suffer slightly from being a quarter of a century old and simply repackaged with a few adjustments.
Unfortunately, this book is hampered by what I feel to be dense language, whether economics jargon or otherwise. Call it inexperience, but for someone studying economics, it grew boring to read at times purely because the language was a little repetitive and hard to follow.
My other critique is that the book is more or less a republishing of the same book from the 90s, which I fear may mislead readers in terms of how inequality has evolved into the 21st century and the 2010s and 2020s. Perhaps the average reader of this book will keep in mind that this book came from a time before I was even born, but I think this book does suffer slightly from being a quarter of a century old and simply repackaged with a few adjustments.
kinakule's review against another edition
2.0
I was really hoping this would be more of a light read as I'd heard it was a good introduction to the topic of how economical inequality furthers itself through how our economy is laid up. But it was a bit too technical and dry for me
tomasz99's review against another edition
3.0
Trudna, pełna liczb i tabel. Zdecydowanie nie dla laików. Pełna szczegółów i solidna. Tabele słabo się formatują na czytniku, zatem zapewne lepiej czytać na papierze.
moorelaborate's review against another edition
5.0
Very informative and broad. Generally it is probably a little to high level for me but I still followed it, the marginal v effective tax rates bit near the end was a particular challenge. Still, it was mostly approachable and well sourced so one could easily research terms or refer to the book itself for clarifications.
blackrainbows's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.25
I liked the way he presents his ideas, it seems like a well-researched book. At certain parts it seems to fall apart a little bit and most of the data representation seemed a bit weird to me. Overall I'd recommend it if you're looking for an informative read on wealth and wage inequality as an introduction to the topic. It's mainly about French economics but he draws up dome great examples from the rest of the world too.
hamboardman's review against another edition
3.0
There was a lot of interesting stuff in this very short book. But the writing was hard to parse and get into. Would be interesting to read something that explored this stuff in more engaging prose.
cahrdy's review against another edition
2.0
It's heavy on explanation and light on argument. The language is highly technical and professional, but determined amateurs can probably follow along. It was definitely hard for me.
Most of the book is dedicated to establishing terms and concepts. The most interesting to me were the capital elasticity of labor (if you raise the minimum wage, the elasticity is how much firms will replace low wage workers with machines or a high wage worker) and the failures of the credit market (capital in developed countries will only invest in the developing world if the developing world can put up equal investment as collateral, which they don't have, so development is slow).
The book mostly establishes and explains such concepts and explores some basic questions without offering answers. The lack of arguments/solutions it offers are why I think it only makes sense if you're going to follow it up with a lot more reading on inequality.
It's not a fun or deeply enlightening read in itself, and for people who have never studied economics or statistics formally it might be impossible to penetrate.
It makes the most sense as a starting point for a course of study or reading on inequality.The information is kind of dated, so I'm not sure it's even useful for that. However, it is concise (only 120 pages), informative, and decipherable.
Most of the book is dedicated to establishing terms and concepts. The most interesting to me were the capital elasticity of labor (if you raise the minimum wage, the elasticity is how much firms will replace low wage workers with machines or a high wage worker) and the failures of the credit market (capital in developed countries will only invest in the developing world if the developing world can put up equal investment as collateral, which they don't have, so development is slow).
The book mostly establishes and explains such concepts and explores some basic questions without offering answers. The lack of arguments/solutions it offers are why I think it only makes sense if you're going to follow it up with a lot more reading on inequality.
It's not a fun or deeply enlightening read in itself, and for people who have never studied economics or statistics formally it might be impossible to penetrate.
It makes the most sense as a starting point for a course of study or reading on inequality.The information is kind of dated, so I'm not sure it's even useful for that. However, it is concise (only 120 pages), informative, and decipherable.
ravuri's review against another edition
The subject matter doesn't lend itself to the audiobook format.