[gopher1]

Why can't it be both? You might have a question as to why Piketty gets so much credit, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

[QuantumChaos]

You are right, this is possible. But I am assuming that the Krugman, Summers and other reviewers (at least somewhat) did their homework, and were correct in saying that Piketty's empirical work was unique and important.