In recent years, Western observers have increasingly treated inequality as a domestic issue. But while there is a strong case to be made for strengthening social safety nets in developed countries, this framing of the issue overlooks the plight of hundreds of millions of people around the world still living in extreme poverty.
CAMBRIDGE – In 2014, the French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century became an international sensation, reshaping the inequality debate and launching its author into superstardom. Piketty was right to point out that the political case for income redistribution is almost entirely focused on domestic concerns. But his central argument – that capitalism inevitably leads to growing inequality – falls apart when comparing the situation of impoverished farmers in Vietnam with the relative comfort of middle-class French citizens.
CAMBRIDGE – In 2014, the French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century became an international sensation, reshaping the inequality debate and launching its author into superstardom. Piketty was right to point out that the political case for income redistribution is almost entirely focused on domestic concerns. But his central argument – that capitalism inevitably leads to growing inequality – falls apart when comparing the situation of impoverished farmers in Vietnam with the relative comfort of middle-class French citizens.