Ekonomi ve Hukuk Dergisi

Makalenin Dili

: TR

  • Yaşar Bülbül
  • Abdulkadir Şenkal
Piketty'nin Kapital’indeki Sermaye, Yoksulluk ve Eşitsizlik Yaklaşımı Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

ÖZ

Son elli yılda gelişmiş kapitalist dünyada artan gelir ve servet eşitsizlikleri sorunu, hem sosyal araştırmaların hem de siyasi mücadelenin konusu olmuştur. Bu gelişmeye paralel olarak 1970’lerin ortalarından bu yana küresel olarak eşitsizliğin büyümesini fazlasıyla belgeleyen kapsamlı bir literatür oluşmuştur. Özellikle Fransız ekonomist Thomas Piketty’nin, Batı’daki ekonomik eşitsizliğe ilişkin dönüm noktası niteliğindeki analizi bu açıdan önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. “Yirmi Birinci Yüzyılda Kapital” isimli kitap, hem popüler hem de akademik çevrelerde büyük ilgi gören ve kapitalizmin geleceği ile ilgili kapsamlı bir eserdir. Bu kitapta Piketty, ekonomik büyüme teorileri ile fonksiyonel ve kişisel gelir dağılımları arasında bağlantı kurarak kapitalist ekonominin işleyişine dair birleşik bir teori oluşturmaya çalışır. Bunu yaparken aynı zamanda sermaye birikimini ve dağıtımını yönlendiren büyük dinamiklerin neler olduğunu bulmaya çalışır. Ona göre eşitsizliğin uzun vadeli evrimi, servetin yoğunlaşması ve ekonomik büyüme beklentisi ile ilgili sorular, ekonomi politiğin merkezinde yer alır. Uzun vadeli tarihsel veri serilerine dayanarak, ekonomik ayrışmanın güçlerinin kapitalizmde egemen olma eğilimindedir. 20. yüzyılı bu kuralın bir istisnası olarak görür ve 21. yüzyılda kapitalizmi sürdürülebilir kılacak politikalar önerir. Bu doğrultuda, temel ekonomik ve sosyal kalıpları ortaya çıkarmak için on sekizinci yüzyıla kadar uzanan yirmi ülkeden benzersiz bir veri koleksiyonunu analiz ediyor. Ayrıca zenginlik ve eşitsizliğin tarihsel gelişimini açıklamak için 18. yüzyıla kadar uzanan verileri kullanıyor. Verilerle eşleşen bir model önerir ve bu modeli 21. yüzyılda artan servet eşitsizliğini tahmin etmek için kullanır. Hatta senaryoyu desteklemek için yüksek gelir ve servet üzerinden vergi alınmasını önerir.
Anahtar Kelimeler : Thomas Piketty, Yirmi birinci yüzyılda kapital, Yoksulluk, Eşitsizlik
An Assessment on Capital, Poverty and Inequality Approach in Pıketty's Capital

ABSTRACT

The problem of increasing income and wealth inequalities in the developed capitalist world in the last fifty years has been the subject of both social studies and political struggle. In the process, an extensive literature has emerged that amply documents the growth of inequality globally since the mid-1970s. Especially French economist Thomas Piketty’s landmark analysis of economic inequality in the West has an important place in this respect. The book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” is a comprehensive work on the future of capitalism, which has received great attention in both popular and academic circles. In this book, Piketty tries to create a unified theory of the workings of the capitalist economy by linking economic growth theories with functional and personal income distributions. While doing this, it also tries to find out what the major dynamics are that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital. For him, questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospect of economic growth are central to political economy. Based on long-term historical data series, the forces of economic disintegration tend to dominate capitalism. It sees the 20th century as an exception to this rule and proposes policies that will make capitalism sustainable in the 21st century. Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries dating back to the eighteenth century to reveal key economic and social patterns. In this context, he uses data dating back to the 18th century to explain the historical development of wealth and inequality. It proposes a model that matches the data and uses this model to predict rising wealth inequality in the 21st century. He recommends levying taxes on high income and wealth to support this scenario.

Extended Summary

As the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, the heated debate on economic inequality has become a political hotspot in the US and Europe. This development has attracted the attention of numerous academics and has been the subject of various studies. In particular, French economist Thomas Piketty’s groundbreaking analysis of economic inequality in the West occupies an important place. The book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, is an inquisitive work that has attracted a great deal of attention in both popular and academic circles, and it offers meaningful and compelling warnings about the future of capitalism. The book has been noted for its bold and provocative predictions of the continued rise of inequality in the twenty-first century, as well as for its comprehensive presentation of detailed historical statistics on inequality. While most people can see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, Piketty has demonstrated this phenomenon with solid data and analysis. According to him, capitalism tends to increase wealth and inequality. So, Piketty says, it’s time to see if a few zeros need to be taken out of the ten-figure fortunes that the world’s club of billionaires has amassed.

This inequitable dynamic of capitalism is not due to the way free markets are described in textbooks (e.g. natural monopolies) or the failures of economic institutions (e.g. the failure to regulate these monopolies), but rather to the fundamental way capitalism works. At this point, Capital in the Twenty-First Century describes the dangers of socio-economic inequality in the history of capitalism. It shows how inequality can fundamentally undermine sustainable economic growth and how the damage is done over time. Piketty has convincingly documented in detail how neoliberal policies have unleashed the worst socio-economic inequalities in history. His analysis is supported by a recent Oxfam report that shows that just eight multi-billionaires own the same amount of capital as half the world’s population.

This article analyses how Piketty has provided momentum for an egalitarian agenda by examining the key conceptual, historical and normative claims of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. By addressing Piketty’s fundamental conceptual and historical claims about the dynamics of inequality, the normative claims of his explanations of inequality are discussed. Within this framework, Capital in the Twenty-First Century attempts to set an agenda for the future by addressing some strategies for an egalitarian socio-economic system as a political philosophy and by showing the role of politics in determining alternative approaches.

Keywords : Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Poverty, Inequality

Kaynak Göster

APA
BÜLBÜL, Y., & ŞENKAL, A., & . ( 2023). Piketty’nin Kapital’indeki Sermaye, Yoksulluk ve Eşitsizlik Yaklaşımı Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme. Çalışma ve Toplum, 3(78), 2121-2150. https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1325494