Finished reading, with satisfaction: A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty 📚

5 out of 5 stars for this one: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I found this book to be very informative and overall a good read. I’m looking for more context in this area. In particular:

• Why did progressive taxation and the welfare state become the chosen option beginning around 1915? What events lead to that conclusion? I don’t find “because World War 1” to be sufficient. It must have been a long road leading up to that.
• How did the free movement of capital around 1980 come about? Also, there are consequences of this globalization, and I want to have a firmer grasp on the connection between this cause and effect. It really seems to be a defining frame for so many issues in the world; is that true?
• And at the same time, circa 1980, the decline of progressive taxation. Was is the same fundamental forces? And no wonder our infrastructure is poorly maintained and failing: we built it all in an entirely different budgetary situation. (Edit: added this one)
• Generally more of a connection between the historical context and the basically economic story that Piketty tells here. I would really like to compare the events that are emphasized by different authors in the same time periods.
• Exploring the conceptions of private property as a concept for common good. I assume that this is a regular socialist topic, but I haven’t read much of that.
• Finding an accurate description of the global economic system, meaning capitalist, socialist, and the hybridization.

There are some few details in the text about these events and ideas, but I want to understand more concretely. If you’ve got good book recommendations, I’m interested. I have a few books in house already that I can credibly start to expore some of this stuff.