Capital in the Twenty-First Century

By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from 20 countries, ranging as far back as the 18th century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality.

Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality - the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth - today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.

A work of extraordinary ambition, originality, and rigor, Capital in the Twenty-First Century reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2014 the President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"L.J. Ganser's voice and accents are superb, and emphasis is well placed." ( AudioFile)

fascinating study on the income inequality

i'm not an expert in politics or economics. but for reading and getting this book i didn't have to be. it's an amazing study on democracy, capitalism and some of the risks it poseses, but also bringing solutions on the table. our world is truly evolving nowadays towards inequality, but a bit of more state intevention could keep this trend under control.

i recommend this book to the coporate world, who believes strongly in meritrocracy - much more than they should.

R is Greater than G

There are some books that are too technical in specs to listen to in audio. "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" is one of them. Unless you have a PhD in economics or believe in socialism, I would skip this book. R is greater than G? You tend to forget what the letters stand for because the author goes too much in depth and not explaining the basic. The only way to get through this book is on print. Even in digital, this book would be too hard to follow. Get the print edition because there are too many graphs and charts that the author is always referring back to.

An important and challenging work

Audible put this one on sale as a $5 special, so I thought it was worth seeing if this book lived up to all the hype it generated in 2014.

Subject wise, it's probably one of the most important and insightful books that I've read. Through an extensive survey of the available economic data of the last three centuries, Piketty lays out the case of how wealth grew to be more and more concentrated in the hands of a powerful few leading up to WWI. The period from WWI through the end of WWII saw much of this wealth destroyed and redistributed. After a post war period of growth due to having to rebuild the world, the last portion of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century lead to a return to the pre-WWI pattern of wealth concentration. There has been plenty of data showing that most of the benefits of economic growth in the last forty years have been taken by those at the top, while the rest have seen their purchasing power either stagnate or decrease. Piketty's work gives some explanation of how this came to be.

The final portions of the book suggests ways to address the growing inequality - principally through taxes on the large resources that have been accumulated by the millionaires and billionaires of the world.

It is a challenging, but compelling narrative and deserves to be taken seriously.

I would have given it five stars, but I have to dock a star for the structure of the presentation. The book is very long, and I feel like Piketty repeats much of the information over and over. I think a good bit of the fluff could have been cut down without detracting from the overall message.

A great book but not ideal for audio format

I think this is a strong book, but I had to doc it a star because it just isn't ideal as an audio book. The author constantly refers to charts and graphs which I couldn't look at while I was driving or working with my hands. He writes about some fairly complex economic concepts that I think would have been easier to understand if I had read them on the page.

All that said, I'm glad I read this one. The author makes a compelling case for his ideas by diving deep into centuries worth of statistics and data. I learned a lot about finance and macro economics that I found to be fascinating.

This is far more than just a polemic screaming about how rich people are bad. Rather it's a history and study of how capital has grown and evolved over centuries and the impact it can have on society.

Even if you disagree with Picketty's ultimate conclusion you can't say that he doesn't make a well-researched and reasoned argument for his beliefs.

Ultimately this book makes me want to read more like it so I can have a better understanding of money and economics.

Dense, informative, but a good message

this is probably better as a physical book for reference than a read through audiobook.

Transformative

Tomas Piketty is my new hero. This book changed the way that I think about investment, inheritance, and financial policy. I highly recommend it.

good book, awful narration

the book is great, but hard to narrate, it is a scholarly work (I read it together with kindle format). what spoils the fun of discovery is the narration: terrible quasi French pronunciation of names, reading by sentences (instead of semantic blocks), and monotonous diction.

Very comprehensive

As someone with no formal education in economics, this book was highly informative and accessible.

An honest perspective

Very informative. Adds perspective to a number of economic myths. The information is worth the time investment.

The historic capital aspects of countries.

This was an extremely important read which put the key financial underpinnings of the world's countries in historic context.