Global Inequality of Wealth in the Twenty-First Century

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acknowledges that r is greater for larger fortunes. using magazines' top billionaires (etc) lists to plot wealth over time & confirm this (6.8% real growth rate at the very top)
for the bigger picture, uses other estimates from bank reports: inequality similar to ~1900; top 0.1% owns 20%, 1% 50%, 10% 80-90%; bottom half less than 5% of wealth globally
again he compares Bill Gates and Liliane Bettencourt, whose fortunes grew at similar rates (to similar sizes); Steve Jobs, whom he cites as being "more innovative", saw his fortune grow more slowly
data qualms: statistical bias where journalists likely underestimate amounts + sampling errors
inherited wealth accounts for roughly half of top fortunes in Forbes, maybe more; less than during Belle Epoque (most likely due to it being easier to accumulate lots of money now in certain industries + developing countries)
"Every fortune is partially justified yet potentially excessive. Outright theft is rare, as is absolute merit." (p444) as justification for a blunt global tax (since courts cannot easily distinguish between earned and unearned wealth, in his opinion)
endowment rates for 800 universities ($400 billion, or less than 1% of household assets). similar results: slightly higher returns to the larger fortunes. unlike households, though, lower chance of "squandering" (since it's more institutional)
on the impact of inflation: asset prices tend to rise at around the same rate, so its effects are complicated. we can see it as a tax on uninvested cash hoards but that's it. more likely to hurt small savers. distribution of capital becomes more unequal
access to real estate as a sort of step function, amplifies returns
on sovereign wealth funds, which are small (1.5% of global assets) but growing esp due to natural resource extraction (oil)
maybe 10% of world assets are in tax havens, which is why the rich countries appear to be in deficit to the poor but really in surplus (just masked)


        Piketty, T. (2014). Global Inequality of Wealth in the Twenty-First Century. In Piketty, T. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Belknap Press, pp. 340-470

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