From Piketty of Capital in the 21st century to capital and ideology: in search of a unified proposal for public policy measures aimed to reducing inequality

This article seeks to compare Piketty’s two great books (2014, 2020) on the issue of inequality, seeking to capture changes in his thinking on the subject, specifically with regard to the proposition of public policies. Although both works are known for the proposal of a strong increase in the progressiveness in the col-lection of three types of tax (inheritance, income and capital), it is not difficult to find clear elements of rupture, especially when the author proposes the rationali-zation of various types of public spending that impact inequality (health, educa-tion, etc.), present in the first book, which completely disappears in the later work. Despite the differences noted, this article seeks to contribute to the debate by proposing a joint analysis of Piketty’s proposals, which reconciles the search for efficiency in public spending present in the first book with the broader scope of measures in the second (basic income, carbon tax, etc.), always based on an overview of the public budget. From this general framework of proposals, it is considered that the author, in addition to being a mandatory reference in the theoretical and analytical debate on inequality, can also be better recognized for his contribution to the discussion on public policies, including by incorporating relevant contributions from other authors.