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A review by bub_9
Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty
4.0
Rigorous, thoughtful, wide-ranging in scope, but also obviously excessively in length to the point of repetitiveness. Also, I continue to enjoy Piketty the economist, and especially Piketty the data-gatherer, but Piketty the activist can be a bit wearying. Much as the devices of Austen and Honore de Balzac became a bit tired in his previous work, the tirades against capitalism can often feel tiresome and excessively emotional here, and clearly the same level of rigour is not applied to some of these arguments (e.g. just because high taxes didn't stop growth, does that mean they weren't inimical to growth nonetheless?).
Nonetheless, the book is just peppered with insight; here are a few examples. The idea of the Church as the first proprietarian, capitalist organisation; tackling myths about inherent cultural characteristics (for example, the idea of the Indian caste system being as lazy a myth as, say, Malays in Singapore being lazier than other races); Eastern European economies losing two to three times what they gain in EU transfers in capital profits accruing to Western investors.
Definitely worth reading, but while remaining mindful of other perspectives.
Nonetheless, the book is just peppered with insight; here are a few examples. The idea of the Church as the first proprietarian, capitalist organisation; tackling myths about inherent cultural characteristics (for example, the idea of the Indian caste system being as lazy a myth as, say, Malays in Singapore being lazier than other races); Eastern European economies losing two to three times what they gain in EU transfers in capital profits accruing to Western investors.
Definitely worth reading, but while remaining mindful of other perspectives.