Pikkety Lite

Pikkety’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is one of those big books that I optimistically pick up just about every time I see it in a bookstore. I really would like to be someone who would read it cover to cover.  But when I leaf through it in the store I realize I’m not that reader.  It’s too technical for me.  I’d never make it halfway through.

So that being the case, what’s next best?  Perhaps Joseph Stiglitz. He falls into a similar camp and his writing is much more accessible.  I searched for the most popular Stiglitz and came up with The Great Divide.

My liberal leanings on inequality are pronounced, but I don’t have a wealth of technical knowledge to back them up.  The Great Divide provides some of that backup, but not a lot.  The book is a compilation of many short magazine and newspaper articles by Stiglitz, and it is fascinating to see what he was writing as our economic story has unfolded over the last twenty years.  So many of his predictions have come true (unfortunately). The pieces tend to be largely political and not technical.  And unfortunately so many of the pieces make the same points over and over.  It doesn’t really add up to a coherent and well organized book.

I find myself agreeing with Stiglitz at just about every point, but not much better armed to defend my position at a cocktail party.  Preaching to the choir, I guess.  And that’s part of the problem with political discourse today.  There are so many parallel channels, and if we keep our attention focused on a particular channel we miss out on real interchange of ideas.  If we only listen to those we already agree with, we don’t make much progress.

Nonetheless, I did find Stiglitz’s larger concept of ‘rent’ enlightening.  And the contrast that he draws between grabbing a larger piece of the pie and working to make the pie larger is also telling. To what degree inequality is an inevitable part of capitalism is something I'm not qualified to judge.  I was hoping for more enlightenment, but Stiglitz is light on theory, heavy on polemics.  I’m still looking for the economic guru who can explain our current plight and take into account opposing viewpoints.  Don’t just say trickle down doesn’t work, show the numbers and explain the underlying theory.

Well, Pikkety Lite is definitely less filling.  Doesn’t taste bad either.  But is there a full-bodied brew that is drinkable?