Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Le Capital au XXIe siècle)

Thomas Piketty's 2013/14 foundational text of empirical inequality economics

Tradition: French empirical political economy

Piketty's 2013/14 foundational text — when r > g, capital concentrations grow without limit

Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Le Capital au XXIe siècle) is Thomas Piketty's 2013/14 foundational empirical political economy — central thesis: when the rate of return on capital (r) exceeds the rate of economic growth (g), wealth concentrations grow without limit; the work documents historical capital-income ratios since 1700 across major economies and argues that contemporary capitalism is on a trajectory of accelerating inequality. The work transformed contemporary political economy.