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The Triumph of the Rentier? Thomas Piketty vs. Luigi Pasinetti & John Maynard Keynes

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Abstract

Thomas Piketty attributes increasing wealth inequality to the characteristics of a neoclassical aggregate production function, which is known not to exist. A more plausible narrative is that wage repression can lead to secular stagnation by enriching the rentier. Lower economic activity decreases labor's bargaining power so that the share of profits in output (pi) tends to rise. Activity (or the output/capital ratio u) is stimulated by increased investment due to a higher pi. Wealth distribution is measured à la Luigi Pasinetti by the ratio Z of capital owned by a capitalist rentier class to the total. Suppose that Z goes up. Rentiers have a high saving rate implying that in a demand driven Keynesian economy u goes down. With the reduction in u the profit share increases, pushing up the growth rate of Z. Depending on economic structure (in particular, differences in saving rates between the classes), this positive feedback may or may not destabilize the system. If stability reigns, there will be a persistent steady state level of Z. If not, there may be euthanasia or triumph of the rentier. In the long run Z is reduced and increased by a downward shift in pi, i.e. less wage repression improves economic performance overall.

Suggested Citation

  • Lance Taylor, 2014. "The Triumph of the Rentier? Thomas Piketty vs. Luigi Pasinetti & John Maynard Keynes," SCEPA working paper series. 2014-7, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    • Handle: RePEc:epa:cepawp:2014-7
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Soon Ryoo, 2016. "Inequality of Income and Wealth in the Long Run: A Kaldorian Perspective," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 429-457, May.
    2. José Gabriel Palma & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2016. "Do Nations Just Get the Inequality They Deserve? The “Palma Ratio” Re-examined," International Economic Association Series, in: Kaushik Basu & Joseph E. Stiglitz (ed.), Inequality and Growth: Patterns and Policy, chapter 2, pages 35-97, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Kumar, Rishabh & Schoder, Christian & Radpour, Siavash, 2018. "Demand driven growth and capital distribution in a two class model with applications to the United States," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-8.
    4. Javier López-Bernardo & Félix López-Martínez & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2016. "A Post-Keynesian Response to Piketty's ‘Fundamental Contradiction of Capitalism’," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 190-204, April.
    5. Stefan Ederer & Miriam Rehm, 2021. "Wealth inequality and aggregate demand," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 405-424, May.
    6. Edward J. Nell, 2014. "On the Causes of Growing Inequality: Piketty, Pasinetti and Taylor," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 26-34, July.
    7. Palma, J. G., 2019. "Why is inequality so unequal across the world? Part 1. The diversity of inequality in disposable income: multiplicity of fundamentals, or complex interactions between political settlements and market ," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1999, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. repec:epa:cepawp:2014-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Linus Mattauch & Ottmar Edenhofer & David Klenert & Sophie Bénard, 2016. "Distributional Effects of Public Investment when Wealth and Classes are Back," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 603-629, July.
    10. Luca Zamparelli, 2017. "Wealth Distribution, Elasticity of Substitution and Piketty: An ‘Anti-Dual’ Pasinetti Economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 927-946, November.
    11. Thomas R. Michl, 2016. "Capitalists, Workers and Thomas Piketty's," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 205-219, April.
    12. Fischer, Thomas, 2017. "Thomas Piketty and the rate of time preference," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 111-133.
    13. Geoffrey C. Harcourt, 2015. "Review Article of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty," Discussion Papers 2015-10, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    14. Kazuhiro Kurose, 2022. "A two-class economy from the multi-sectoral perspective: the controversy between Pasinetti and Meade–Hahn–Samuelson–Modigliani revisited," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 239-270, April.
    15. Baranzini, Mauro L. & Mirante, Amalia, 2021. "Pasinetti's theorem: A narrow escape, for what was to become an inexhaustible research programme," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 470-481.
    16. Mattauch, Linus & Klenert, David & Stiglitz, Joseph E. & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2017. "Piketty meets Pasinetti: On public investment and intelligent machinery," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168156, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Mattauch, Linus & Klenert, David & Stiglitz, Joseph E. & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2022. "Overcoming wealth inequality by capital taxes that finance public investment," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 383-395.
    18. Borissov, K. & Pakhnin, M., 2018. "A Division of Society into the Rich and the Poor: Some Approaches to Modeling," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 32-59.
    19. Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "Piketty’s Elasticity of Substitution: A Critique," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 64-79, January.
    20. Marwil Jhonatan Dávila Fernádez & José Luis Oreiro, 2016. "Capital In The Twenty First Century: Reinterpretando A Contradição Fundamental Do Capitalismo," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 096, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    21. Hiroaki Sasaki, 2022. "Growth and income distribution in an economy with dynasties and overlapping generations," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 215-238, April.
    22. repec:saq:wpaper:1/15 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    demand-driven growth; functional income distribution; steady state wealth distribution; Pasinetti; Piketty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics

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