What the Inequality Debate Fails to Measure<\/strong><\/p>\nIn France, wealth is viewed with suspicion. This is a cultural fact before it is an economic one. For the past twenty years, the wealth tax (ISF, then IFI), inheritance taxation, \u201ctax justice,\u201d and \u201cultra-rich\u201d have structured public debate as a series of totems \u2014 with one constant: the conviction that the gap between the top and the bottom of the distribution is, in itself, the problem to be solved. The work of Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman did not create this conviction. They gave it an academic framework, long-run data series, and a formalized structure. They made it unassailable \u2014 or at least difficult to challenge without being seen as a defender of privilege.<\/p>\n
It is precisely this difficulty that makes the exercise necessary.<\/p>\n
Let us begin with what their critics rarely do. Piketty and Zucman are right on several empirical points. Wealth inequality has increased in most OECD countries since 1980. Legal tax avoidance mechanisms \u2014 stepped-up basis in the United States, split ownership structures and Dutreil pacts in France, foundations everywhere \u2014 allow a fraction of ultra-wealth to structurally escape inheritance taxation. Any critique that denies these facts loses credibility before it even begins.<\/p>\n
But between these findings and the policy conclusions drawn from them lies a chain of choices \u2014 of measurement, framing, and values \u2014 that is rarely made explicit. It is this chain that this op-ed seeks to dismantle.<\/p>\n
What the Debate Confuses<\/strong><\/p>\nThe inequality debate constantly blends three distinct registers. Empirical facts: wealth concentration has increased. Methodological conventions: how do we define the income of the ultra-rich? Values: which indicator of social progress should be prioritized \u2014 reducing relative gaps, or raising the living standards of the least well-off?<\/p>\n
Piketty and Zucman measure with remarkable precision the gap between the first and the last runner in the race. The problem is that they look almost exclusively at that gap, without ever checking whether all runners have moved several kilometers forward. The result: normative choices presented as scientific findings. This slippage is not unique to their camp \u2014 liberals often do the same in reverse. This op-ed will try not to fall into the same trap.<\/p>\n
The r > g Framework: Solid, but Conditional<\/strong><\/p>\nThe relationship r > g \u2014 the return on capital structurally exceeding growth \u2014 is the cornerstone of Piketty\u2019s argument. Per Krusell (Stockholm) and Anthony Smith (Yale) showed in the Journal of Political Economy<\/em> (2015) that this dynamic depends on a crucial assumption: an elasticity of substitution between capital and labor greater than 1. If this elasticity is below 1 \u2014 as most empirical estimates suggest \u2014 concentration converges toward a finite limit. The Piketty dynamic does not disappear, but it ceases to be inevitable.<\/p>\nThis is not a minor caveat. It is the condition for the validity of the entire framework. A result conditional on contested assumptions is not a law of nature. It is a thesis \u2014 and presenting it otherwise is excessive.<\/p>\n
Zucman: A Real Problem, a Misleading Measure<\/strong><\/p>\nOne of Gabriel Zucman\u2019s most widely cited findings is that the 400 wealthiest Americans pay, proportionally, less tax than the middle class. This figure relies on including unrealized capital gains in income. If your assets rise by ten billion this year, Zucman counts ten billion as your income \u2014 even if you have sold nothing, received nothing, and that amount could collapse tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Zucman\u2019s argument is serious: these gains represent real economic wealth that can durably escape taxation, through mechanisms such as stepped-up basis in the United States or split ownership in France. But this argument concerns a long-term structural advantage, not the current effective tax rate. The Congressional Budget Office, which excludes such gains, calculates effective tax rates for the top percentile at around 30%. The two methods answer two legitimate but different questions. Confusing them produces striking headlines and flawed diagnoses.<\/p>\n
Relative Inequality: Effects That Cannot Be Ignored<\/strong><\/p>\nPiketty does not merely measure gaps; he argues that relative inequality has independent causal effects on health, social cohesion, and democratic quality. The literature is substantial: Wilkinson and Pickett (The Spirit Level<\/em>, 2009) documented robust correlations between inequality and public health indicators; Marmot established social gradients in health that persist at equal income levels; Gilens and Page suggest political capture of institutions by the very wealthy.<\/p>\nThese works are not without weaknesses \u2014 sensitivity to samples, causality still debated: are unequal societies unhealthy because they are unequal, or are inequality and social pathologies both symptoms of a deeper institutional deficit? Yet they are too serious to be dismissed outright. This op-ed does not claim that relative inequality has no effects. It argues that these effects, real but debated in magnitude, are not sufficient on their own to justify the systemic fiscal overhaul proposed by Piketty and Zucman.<\/p>\n
Three Trajectories, One Question<\/strong><\/p>\nConsider Bangladesh. Between 1990 and 2020, the country reduced infant mortality by 85%, increased girls\u2019 school enrollment to 98%, and multiplied its per capita income fivefold. Its relative inequality increased slightly. Applied to this case, Piketty\u2019s indicator would signal deterioration. No serious observer would accept that conclusion.<\/p>\n
The objection is valid: Bangladesh is a developing country. Take South Korea. Between 1980 and 2020, GDP per capita increased tenfold and life expectancy rose by fifteen years. The Gini coefficient moved from 0.33 to 0.35. Judged by inequality, Korea in 2020 is less just than in 1980. Judged by lived reality, it is incomparably more so.<\/p>\n
Even in France, between 1990 and 2022, the living standards of the bottom 10% increased by more than 30% in real terms (INSEE), while the Gini coefficient rose slightly. The gap widened; the floor rose.<\/p>\n
Looking only at the gap without looking at the floor is a mutilation of the diagnosis. But looking only at the floor without looking at the gap is another. The choice between these perspectives is a value judgment \u2014 not a scientific result.<\/p>\n
What This Op-Ed Assumes<\/strong><\/p>\nTo assert that the absolute condition of the most vulnerable should take precedence over relative gaps is a moral choice, not an empirical discovery. Liberal critics of Piketty often commit the very sin they denounce: presenting their framing as neutral rather than as a value system just as partial. This op-ed acknowledges its choices. It does not claim they are objective.<\/p>\n
It also acknowledges this: the tax avoidance mechanisms documented by Zucman \u2014 stepped-up basis, split ownership, instrumentally used Dutreil pacts \u2014 are real problems. Recognizing that Piketty\u2019s overall diagnosis is overstated does not imply defending the fiscal status quo. That would be another form of intellectual dishonesty \u2014 and perhaps the most costly one, because it hands Piketty exactly the opponent he needs to be right.<\/p>\n
Three Proposals<\/strong><\/p>\nCorrect inheritance-related tax asymmetries. Transferring wealth without taxing accumulated capital gains is an unjustifiable advantage. In France, the combination of split ownership, the \u20ac100,000 allowance renewable every fifteen years, and Dutreil pacts allows significant business wealth to be transferred at very low effective rates. This is not a wealth tax. It is the correction of an asymmetry that even Piketty\u2019s critics should acknowledge.<\/p>\n
Complement relative indicators with measures of absolute poverty. The European poverty threshold, set at 60% of median income, has a perverse property: if median income falls during a recession, the threshold falls as well, and people can become materially poorer without the indicator capturing it. An absolute poverty threshold, indexed to a basket of goods, would provide a more honest picture of lived conditions.<\/p>\n
Demand methodological transparency. Any study on effective tax rates should specify whether it includes unrealized capital gains and present both figures. Any study on inequality should present both relative and absolute indicators. If these requirements were applied, half of the headlines about taxing the ultra-rich would need to be rewritten \u2014 and half of complacent liberal op-eds as well.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\nThe problem is not primarily that some people are very rich. It is that too many people are still too poor. Confusing these two diagnoses means designing policies to address the wrong problem \u2014 with real costs for those they claim to protect.<\/p>\n
The inequality debate lacks neither data nor indignation. It lacks clarity about what is being measured, in the name of which values, and toward which objectives. This clarity is not a technical matter. It is a democratic requirement. It applies to all sides \u2014 including the one writing these lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What the Inequality Debate Fails to Measure In France, wealth is viewed with suspicion. This is a cultural fact before it is an economic one. For the past twenty years, the wealth tax (ISF, then IFI), inheritance taxation, \u201ctax justice,\u201d and \u201cultra-rich\u201d have structured public debate as a series of totems \u2014 with one constant:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[648943261,648943260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-absolute-poverty","category-wealth"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Like poor allocation of resources, constantly depreciating income from work, precarious employment, the dismantling of the State leaving the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "inequality"","block_context":{"text":"inequality","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/inequality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irma-1.jpg?fit=880%2C586&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irma-1.jpg?fit=880%2C586&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irma-1.jpg?fit=880%2C586&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irma-1.jpg?fit=880%2C586&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20357,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/inequality\/may-this-crisis-be-an-opportunity","url_meta":{"origin":31401,"position":1},"title":"May this crisis be an opportunity!","author":"Michel Santi","date":"June 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 For the common good, but also purely and simply for the preservation of capitalism, this crisis must be got to grips with because the cause and effect relationship between the accumulation of debt and inequalities is, for me, at the source of it all. The fact is that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "inequality"","block_context":{"text":"inequality","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/inequality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/transformation.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/transformation.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/transformation.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/transformation.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/transformation.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13661,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/european-union\/luxembourg-the-worm-in-europes-apple","url_meta":{"origin":31401,"position":2},"title":"Luxembourg: the worm in Europe\u2019s apple","author":"Michel Santi","date":"December 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It is the backbone of European tax evasion. A financial colony. One of the most fervent representatives of the money empire at the heart of Europe. It has been a systematic saboteur of the fight against tax fraud for several decades. Luxembourg is still the leading nation for secret banking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "capitalism"","block_context":{"text":"capitalism","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/capitalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/luxembourg-1.jpg?fit=840%2C821&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/luxembourg-1.jpg?fit=840%2C821&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/luxembourg-1.jpg?fit=840%2C821&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/luxembourg-1.jpg?fit=840%2C821&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19718,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/neoliberalism\/economists-can-we-trust-them","url_meta":{"origin":31401,"position":3},"title":"Economists: can we trust them?","author":"Michel Santi","date":"October 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Chile is the only Latin American country that is a member of the OECD, and not long ago it was still being cited as an example to follow because of its success and economic recovery. It is, however, just the latest victim to date of a neoliberalism whose ravages have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "neoliberalism"","block_context":{"text":"neoliberalism","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/neoliberalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/apprenti-sorcier.jpg?fit=1023%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/apprenti-sorcier.jpg?fit=1023%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/apprenti-sorcier.jpg?fit=1023%2C682&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/apprenti-sorcier.jpg?fit=1023%2C682&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13790,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/capitalism\/1929-1987-2000-2007-and-2018-havent-we-learned-anything","url_meta":{"origin":31401,"position":4},"title":"1929, 1987, 2000, 2007 and 2018: haven\u2019t we learned anything?","author":"Michel Santi","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Notwithstanding the drastic adjustment to the stock markets in the way of 10%, the world's biggest economy, the one that's always ahead of everyone else in growth and also depression, the one that serves as the ultimate example of neoliberalism \u2013 America \u2013 has made a spectacular recovery since the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "capitalism"","block_context":{"text":"capitalism","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/capitalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Stiglitz.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Stiglitz.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Stiglitz.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Stiglitz.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21839,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/china\/china-is-folding-under-the-weight-of-its-own-contradictions","url_meta":{"origin":31401,"position":5},"title":"China is folding under the weight of its own contradictions","author":"Michel Santi","date":"January 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The gap between the US and China remains wide, with China\u2019s GDP still at only 70% of America\u2019s. Evidently, China\u2019s economic progress has been spectacular, and in this light the 14 trillion dollars that make up China\u2019s aggregate product is nothing short of a miracle compared to the state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/china"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Chine-Xi-jinping-baisse-pauvrete-empeche-lexplosion-inegalites_0.jpg?fit=729%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Chine-Xi-jinping-baisse-pauvrete-empeche-lexplosion-inegalites_0.jpg?fit=729%2C469&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Chine-Xi-jinping-baisse-pauvrete-empeche-lexplosion-inegalites_0.jpg?fit=729%2C469&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Chine-Xi-jinping-baisse-pauvrete-empeche-lexplosion-inegalites_0.jpg?fit=729%2C469&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31401"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31406,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31401\/revisions\/31406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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