Analyzes a collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns, transform debate, and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality.

Translation of the author's Le capital au XXIe siècle.

Income and output -- Growth : illusions and realities -- The metamorphoses of capital -- From old Europe to the new world -- The long-run capital/income ratio -- Capital's share vs. labor's share in the twenty-first century -- Inequality and concentration : an initial orientation -- The two worlds -- Inequality in the income from labor -- Inequality in the ownership of capital -- Merit and inheritance in the long run -- Global inequality of wealth in the twenty-first century -- A social state for the twenty-first century -- Rethinking the progressive income tax -- A global tax on capital -- The question of the public debt.