Top 34 Quotes by Thomas Piketty

I am not political. It is not my job. But I would be happy if politicians could read my work and draw some conclusions from it.

I think inequality is fine, as long as it is in the common interest. The problem is when it gets so extreme, when it becomes excessive.

I certainly agree that capital is not a one-dimensional object, and that the return on capital takes very different forms for different assets or different people.

Market forces and capitalism by themselves aren't sufficient to ensure the common good and to limit the concentration of wealth at levels that are compatible with democratic ideals.

One way to have broader access to wealth is to reduce the tax on the large group and increase the tax on the very top so concentration of wealth doesn't get to extreme levels.

Private property and the market system are good not only to promote innovation and to promote growth; private property and the market system are good for our personal freedom.

I don't pretend that I can predict the future value of the growth rate or rate of return.

Yeah, I am in favor of migration. But I am also in favor of education. But at the same time, I am in favor of progressive taxation. I think we need all of this. I think we don't have to choose one.

Economists tend to think they are much, much smarter than historians, than everybody. And this is a bit too much because at the end of the day, we don't know very much in economics.

What I argue for is a progressive tax, a global tax, based on the taxation of private property.