Top Incomes in France in the Twentieth Century : : Inequality and Redistribution, 1901–1998 / / Thomas Piketty.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Harvard University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• VerfasserIn: Piketty, Thomas,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1104 p.) :; 1 halftone, 44 graphs, 127 tables

A landmark in contemporary social science, this pioneering work by Thomas Piketty explains the facts and dynamics of income inequality in France in the twentieth century. On its publication in French in 2001, it helped launch the international program led by Piketty and others to explore the grand patterns and causes of global inequality—research that has since transformed public debate. Appearing here in English for the first time, this stunning achievement will take its place alongside Capital in the Twenty-First Century as a modern classic of economic analysis. Top Incomes in France in the Twentieth Century is essential in part because of Piketty’s unprecedented efforts to uncover, untangle, and present in clear form data about patterns in tax and inheritance in France dating back to 1900. But it is also an exceptional work of analysis, tracking and explaining with Piketty’s characteristically lucid prose the effects of political conflict, war, and social change on the economic pressures and public policies that determined the lives of millions. A work of unusual intellectual power and ambition, Top Incomes in France in the Twentieth Century is a vital resource for anyone concerned with the economic, political, and social history of France, and it is central to ongoing debates about social justice, inequality, taxation, and the evolution of capitalism around the world.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface to the New Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Why Study Top Incomes? -- Part One: The Evolution of Income Inequality in France in the Twentieth Century -- A Fivefold Increase in “Average” Purchasing Power in the Twentieth Century -- The Evolution of the Level and Composition of Top Incomes in France in the Twentieth Century -- Wage Inequality in France in the Twentieth Century -- Part Two: Top Incomes and Redistribution in France in the Twentieth Century -- Income Tax Legislation from 1914 to 1998 -- Who Paid What? -- Part Three: France and the Kuznets Curve -- Was the “End of the Rentiers” a Tax Illusion? -- How Does France Compare with Foreign Experiences? -- Conclusion: Top Incomes in France at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century -- Appendix A: The Raw Statistical Tables Compiled by the Tax Administration from Income Tax Returns (1915–1998 Tax Years) -- Appendix B: Methodology and Results of Estimates Based on Income Tax Return Statistics (1915–1998 Tax Years) -- Appendix C: Complementary Data on Income Tax Legislation -- Appendix D: Raw Data, Methodology, and Results of Estimates Based on Statistics from Employer Wage Declarations (1919–1938, 1947, and 1950–1998 Wages) -- Appendix E: Estimating Consistent Series for the Blue-Collar Wage and the Average Wage over the Long Run (1900–1998) -- Appendix F: Consumption Price Indexes (1900–1998) -- Appendix G: Methodology and Results of the Estimates Based on the National Accounts Series (1900–1998) -- Appendix H: Population, Households, and Socioprofessional Structure, 1900–1998 -- Appendix I: Estimates of the Income Distribution in Twentieth-Century France -- Appendix J: Raw Data, Methodology, and Results of Estimates Based on the Statistics Derived from Bequest Declarations (1902–1994 Bequests) -- Appendix K: Raw Data, Methodology, and Estimates Based on Statistics on the Distribution of Parisian Rents (1889, 1901, and 1911 rents) -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Contents in Detail -- Tables and Illustrations -- Index