Is capitalism the cause of global inequality?

In 2014, the French economist Thomas Piketty's *Capital in the Twenty-First Century* became an international sensation, reshaping the inequality debate and launching its author into superstardom. Dr Piketty was right to point out that the political case for income redistribution is almost entirely focused on domestic concerns. But his central argument - that capitalism inevitably leads to growing inequality - falls apart when comparing the situation of impoverished farmers in Vietnam with the relative comfort of middle-class French citizens.

- KENNETH ROGOFF

In reality, the trade-driven rise of economies in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe over the past four decades has led to what may be the most dramatic reduction in cross-country disparities in human history. Despite this, Western observers rarely pay more than lip service to the roughly 85 per cent of the world's population living in the Global South. While philanthropists like Bill Gates devote significant resources to improving lives in Africa, most foundations and institutions remain focused on reducing within-country inequality. Although both causes are admirable, political analysts often ignore the fact that, by global standards, poverty is virtually nonexistent in advanced economies.

Farmers in India, of course, have no influence over US or European elections, where the focus has increasingly turned inward in recent years. Nowadays, candidates do not win by pledging to help Africa, let alone South Asia or South America. This shift helps explain why Dr Piketty's framing of inequality as a domestic issue has resonated strongly with American progressives - and, indirectly, with former President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.