[smallmancontrov]

Just remember that the US purged left-leaning economists during the cold war and the field re-grew under intense think-tank incentives towards the economic right, so if you think labor/capital dynamics might be important to the AI revolution you really ought to balance your "random" sampling of US economists with some Piketty (Atkinson, Stiglitz, Zucman -- but in an era where reading even one book is considered a herculean feat of focus, "Capital in the Twenty First Century" by Piketty is the canonical pick).

[pirate787]

Piketty is just a marxist flailing around, backfilling data to fit his belief that communism is the solution for every problem. He's been spectacularly wrong in his predictions so far, for example he said Milei would be "devastating" for Argentina and the opposite is the case.

[carlob]

I'm pretty sure no Marxist considers Piketty a fellow Marxist, he's much closer to social democracy and Keynes. Piketty advocates for market economy and a global capital tax, Marxists on the other hand advocate for the violent overthrowing of capitalism and collective ownership of the means of production. Can you spot the difference?

[nahuel0x]

Piketty is not a marxist, he even declared he never read Das Capital.

[viccis]

>for example he said Milei would be "devastating" for Argentina and the opposite is the case.

Love to see you mix unsubstantiated vitriol with overt lies like this.

[smallmancontrov]

Let's see.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty

> A visit to the Soviet Union in 1991 was enough to make him a firm "believe[r] in capitalism, private property and the market"

Ok, that's what he says, but what does he want? Does he want to eliminate social classes (communism)? Eliminate private ownership of the means of production (socialism)?

> His 2013 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, relies on economic data going back 250 years to show that an ever-rising concentration of wealth is not self-correcting. To address this problem, he proposes redistribution through a progressive global tax on wealth.

No, looks like he just wants taxes. Case closed: this is instance #54367 of an economic conservative pretending that it's marxism to tax a penny from a billionaire. And you call yourself "pirate"? Sigh.

[chadgpt3]

A visit to the USSR makes one a capitalist, a visit to the USA makes one a communist. Maybe they both suck?

[wyre]

Maybe critique his ideas instead of his predictions. Piketty is an economist, not a future-teller.

[Maxatar]

What's the significance of his "ideas" with respect to economics if they don't lead to actual predictions?

Why did he decide to make these predictions if his ideas supposedly have no bearing on how predictions are created?

Does economics no longer even have the pretense of being a science, which by its very nature exists to make testable predictions?

[lll-o-lll]

If we are going to start discounting economists based on failure to correctly predict things like - interest rates - then you’re going to be chopping the entire mainstream field. If any economist was ever beholden to making accurate predictions, the field would currently be vacant.

[MSFT_Edging]

Economics isn't a science. It's a vibe check. That's why unprofitable companies make up a majority of the stock market.

[jdkoeck]

If he is confident enough to make economic predictions, it’s only fair that we take him to task on these.

[AngryData]

Anyone who flat out dismisses others work because they are "marxist" is only proclaiming their own ignorance on economic topics.

[TalkingCodeMonk]

Also remember that the Koch Bros (plus numerous other billionaires) have spent billions [0] poisoning economics academia by funding their narcissistic version of pseudo-libertarianism across think tanks, lobbyists, and colleges... They're so "Libertarian" they believe corporate dictatorship is freedom and poisoning their communities is the communities problem.

I remember first going to a party at an Economics students house 20 years ago, and thinking they all seemed like they were in a cult. Wasn't until fairly recently I figured out it was from propaganda.

[0] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_network