Spotlight on Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century

Those who haven’t heard of Thomas Piketty might like to think of him as a modern day Robin Hood. The quiver of arrows has been replaced with a brain sharp enough to run through the heart of the Sheriff of Nottingham, a French accent and a suit - but he's still calling for a global redistribution of wealth. And he’s coming to London.
Thomas Piketty summary
When Piketty published his book Capital in the 21^st Century in 2014 he was a relatively unknown economist encroaching into a field of economics that Nobel Prize-winning writers such as Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman had focused on most of their careers. It was a huge success, selling nearly half a million copies worldwide, and was described by many as the book of recent decades. How did this largely unknown French economist stir up such massive worldwide debate on inequality?
Thomas Piketty capital
The premise of Piketty’s book, backed up by 15 years of empirical research, is that capital – whether invested in the stock market or property – grows faster than income and always will. People who are already rich will increase in wealth and those who depend on income can never catch up. The book is a transformation of what we thought we knew about the evolution of income and wealth (or capital as he calls it) over the past three centuries.
The 'unrealistic' answer to all this, he argues, is a global redistribution of wealth that would give poorer earners capital to invest.
Thomas Piketty London
In this rare appearance in London, Piketty will be centre stage for Intelligence Squared, along with a panel of experts – some supporters, some critics – to debate his findings and alleged inaccuracies. Is he right that inequality will rise during the 21^st century? Are we sure that the inequality of wealth is important? Is it really a threat to democracy?