More than 1600 people at the FEPS and FJJ conference on Equality with Piketty

Thomas Piketty delivered a keynote speech on the topic of Equality to an audience of over 1600 […]

14/04/2016

Thomas Piketty delivered a keynote speech on the topic of Equality to an audience of over 1600 people at a conference organised by FEPS and the Fondation Jean Jaurès, in partnership with L’Obs.

 
The emphasis of Piketty’s message was on the dynamics of accumulating capital that produces unsustainable inequalities. He proposed ways to change this trend, for instance, setting up a progressive General Social Contribution for every income. On the Eurozone, he put forward a plan to restructure European public debt and proposed having a Eurozone Parliament. 
 

The speech was followed by a debate with Daniel Cohen, President on the Scientific Council of Fondation Jean Jaurès and was closed by Massimo D’Alema, President of FEPS. 

Taking place at  La maison de la Mutualité in Paris the atmosphere for the debate was fitting and as the Director General of one of the think tanks organising insisted during the opening, the event was held to illustrate the significance of research proving that inequalities are in fact increasing, this markedly in France, not only in terms of wages but also access to the Labour market.

Thomas Piketty is professor at the École d’économie de Paris and Director of Studies at EHESS. He is the author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Seuil, 2013), Top Incomes. A Global Perspective (avec A. B. Atkinson, Oxford University Press, 2010) et Hauts revenus en France au XXe siècle. Inégalités et redistributions, 1901-1998 (Grasset, 2001).

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