This week we are discussing trends in top incomes shares and what makes the rich rich.
Our discussion is based on this week’s readings:
- Medeiros, Marcelo., & de Souza, Pedro. H. F. 2015. The rich, the affluent and the top incomes. Current Sociology, 63(6), 869–895.
- Piketty, Thomas. 2014 Capital in the Twenty-First Century. [Introduction]
I recommend you finish the readings before carefully going over my PowerPoint presentation with voiceover where I explain important ideas and concepts covered in the readings. I also present data from other papers that you might find interesting.
Watch this 6 minute video where Emmanuel Saez talks about the rising income inequality:
Before watching Piketty’s Ted Talk, have a look at this brief 3 minute summary of his book:
Watch Piketty’s Ted Talk, where he explains his main hypothesis:
Lecture Posts Questions:
On the comments section below, address the following questions (answers should be at least 100 words in length and posted by Sunday – This is how participation points are assessed. Please save your comments in a safe document before attempting to post it.
- From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
- From the Medeiros and Souza (2015) reading, what isn’t clear? What would you like to ask the authors? Any thoughts you would like to share?
- From the introduction to Piketty’s book what isn’t clear? Any thoughts you would like to share?
- After watching Saez’s video, what are the main takeaways?
- What are the main takeaways from Piketty’s Ted Talk? Why do you think this book was of so much interest to so many people?
