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{"id":15991,"date":"2014-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=948"},"modified":"2014-05-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T00:00:00","slug":"solving-the-piketty-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/05\/solving-the-piketty-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the Piketty Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

Alex Tabarrok has as\u00a0solution\u00a0<\/a>to the problem of capital accumulation that Thomas Piketty identifies as the driver of inequality (Capital in the Twenty-First Century<\/a>): Change the birthrate of the rich:<\/p>\n

Increasing fertility rates would do the trick: \u201cIf every wealthy family has 4 children, wealth per person doesn\u2019t increase and so inequality does not increase. . . . If the wealthy consume about 20% of their capital income (still a very high savings rate) and have just 3 children then again we have approximate balance and no increase in inequality over the generations. . . .\u00a0Piketty\u2019s \u2018patrimonial capital\u2019 contains its own internal contradiction. The more patrimony the less capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

So would reducing fertility below a certain rate: \u201cIf the rich as a class have fewer than 2 children then it follows inexorably that their time is numbered, albeit without first creating a small number of very rich people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"