Last week, Chris Giles of The Financial Times kicked up a storm in economic circles by claiming that Thomas Piketty had messed up the data in his landmark study Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a historical survey of income inequality in the capitalist world. Giles said Piketty had plucked numbers "out of thin air" and "got his sums wrong," undercutting his central thesis that economic inequality is rising in Europe and the United States.
Now Piketty has responded — and at length.
The gist is that Piketty is standing behind both his data and his conclusions. This comes on top of several economists and commentators suggesting that Giles exaggerated the implications of the errors and discrepancies he found in Piketty's spreadsheets.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So if you were one of the many people who helped send Capital to the top of the bestseller lists, don't send it back to the publisher just yet.
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A monstrous parade, a hungry tortoise, and more
-
The Week Unwrapped: Should we be eating less fat – or more?Podcast Plus who will benefit from the surprise Dutch election result? And how can art improve our health?
-
AI models may be developing a ‘survival drive’Under the radar Chatbots are refusing to shut down
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
