Abstract
This paper analyzes the book Capital in the 21st century, written by Thomas Piketty in 2013, on the issue of inequality in capitalism. To do so, it is divided into three sections. In the first, it presents the author’s main ideas on the evolution of inequality since the nineteenth century, and on the causes of its increase in the world from 1970 onwards, as well as its proposal to create a progressive annual tax on capital to reverse this trend. In the second section, it seeks to make an alternative theoretical interpretation to that of Piketty, in light of the transformations in capitalism and the changes that occurred in economic thought from that time on the causes of this increase in inequality. In the third, contributions of the study in terms of the analysis performed are discussed, as well as its limitations that prevent a better understanding of this issue.
Keywords:
Welfare state; Capital; Income and wealth distribution; Taxation