The history of every society up to the present day is a history of struggles between ideologies and the pursuit of justice."
- Thomas Piketty
What causes inequality?
Why does inequality persist?
This book traces the lineage of an aristocratic family through the French Revolution, imperialism, two world wars, the postwar period of rapid economic growth, the conservative revolution of the 1980s, and the present day, when inequality is widening. It explores the mystery of inequality through the transformations of wealth and society faced by eight generations of the family.
This book provides an easy-to-understand introduction to the work of a world authority on theoretical analysis of historical changes in inequality.
Table of Contents
1901: Jules [Characters in the Years and Family Lineage]
The Infancy of Progressive Taxation
Unequal Europe in the Early 20th Century
Taxes: Free, Equal, or Flat?
Progressive taxes: a tool for redistribution
1789: Pierre and Jean-Baptiste
Rod, compulsory labor, and banalités—the nobility at the top
Nobility, clergy, and the Third Estate—an unequal three-tiered society
1789: Abolition of privileges
Revolution, or the advent of a society of property rights
Transfer taxes: a bad time for the nobility?
The Paradox of Revolution
1794: Pierre, Germaine, and Elinor
Slavery: The Height of Inequality
Haiti: Slave Revolts Lead to the Payment of Public Debt
Abolition of Slavery: Ultimately, Pro-Slavery Victors
Britain Abolishes Slavery in Exchange for Reparations
Justification of Property Rights and Slave Society
1860: Germaine, Elinor, Joseph, and Charlotte
A World Dominated by Europe
From the Civil War to the Abolition of Slavery
Colonization
The American Gilded Age: The Second Industrial Revolution
1901: Jules & Louise
1914: The Four Old Ladies and the Cailliau Affair
Progressive Taxation and World War I
1920: Jules & Antoine
The Gradual Decline of High-Value Assets
Keynes, or Wealth from Deficit
The New Deal, or the Popular Front: The Rise of Social Democratic Ideas
1945: Ernestine & The Guerin Family
Inflation, a Debt Windfall
The Collapse of Property-Rental Society After World War II
Tax Revenue Growth During the Glorious Thirty Years
India: Pioneers of Affirmative Action
Corporate Governance, the German Model
1968: Christine & Thierry
The "Conservative Revolution" from Nixon to Thatcher
1981: The Beginning of the Mitterrand Era
The Collapse of the Communist System
The European Union, a Makeshift Compromise
2010: Lea
Meritopia, the Great Illusion
Predistribution: The Key to Eliminating Inequality
Reversing the Educational Divide
The Fall of Social Democracy
2014: Lea & Yugoslavia
The rift between the European Union and Eastern European countries
Subprime: From the US economic crisis to the Greek tragedy
Victims of interest rates
Quantitative easing and the European Central Bank's rescue
Persistent male dominance in the economy
The elephant curve and huge inequality
2016: Lea leaves Yugoslavia
Swiss Leaks, Luxembourg Leaks, Panama Papers...significant tax losses
Tools for ensuring tax transparency
The beginning of a new society of identity fragmentation
Proposals for realizing participatory socialism in the 21st century
Social ownership of capital
Temporary ownership of capital
Toward a single social federalist Europe
Democratic equality vouchers
Individual progressive carbon tax
Private capital for education and vocational training