Special Issue Call for Papers
Special Issue of the Journal of Income Distribution on the Economics of Piketty
Abstract Submission Deadline: September 6th, 2024
Submission Deadline: October 31st, 2024
The Journal of Income Distribution is mounting a Special Issue on the impact of Piketty’s contributions to economic inequality, wealth concentration, and the relationship of capital accumulation and growth. The publication of Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century (2013/2014) followed by his Capital and Ideology (2019) instantly generated enormous attention and controversy. Piketty’s main thesis that persistent economic inequality is the outcome of growing capital accumulation has encountered acquiescence but also criticism, from both main-stream and orthodox economists. Various objections have been raised; the particular data and their measurement, on which his thesis relies, were questioned, his definition of capital was challenged, and the conclusions he draws from his theory were deemed inconsistent. His proposed tax transfers as the solution to alleviate income disparity have been most provocative. The pros and cons of Piketty’s contributions to economics have thus generated passionate debate.
In light of the on-going political polarization about income disparities, Guest Editors Luke Petach and Steven Pressman are preparing a Special Issue of the Journal of Income Distribution dedicated to Piketty’s contribution to economic ideas with reference to the soundness of his theory and the merits of his proposed income disparity policy.
The Special Issue Guest co-Editors would welcome submissions grounded in factual evidence on any aspect of Piketty's work as well as theoretical papers that attempt to expand and extend Piketty's work. Some possible topics include: (1) the reliability and/or the usefulness of Piketty's measurement of distribution and/or the debates over Piketty's actual measurement of the share of income going to the top 1%, (2) Piketty, government debt, and income distribution, (3) housing and inequality in Piketty, (4) the economic consequences of the growing fraction of income going to the very richest households and/or businesses, (5) the political consequences of greater inequality, including the rise of right-wing populism around the world, (6) the place of Piketty in the history of the economic analysis of income inequality, (7) the relationship between the work of Piketty and some other heterodox school(s) of thought, (8) the wealth tax, (9) policies that follow from the work of Piketty and might mitigate rising inequality, (10) higher marginal income tax rates as a way to lower the pre-tax distribution of income, (11) Piketty and socialism, (12) racial or gender disparities in inequality, (13) education and inequality, (14) inequality and the climate crisis, (15) Piketty and MMT, (16) Piketty and public choice.
Guest co-Editors: Luke Petach (Belmont University; luke.petach@belmont.edu)
Steven Pressman (New School for Social Research; pressman@monmouth.edu)
NB: All submissions will undergo peer review. Address initial correspondence and questions directly to the Guest co-Editors.
