Thomas Piketty is probably the best-known economist of our time. In his works, he presents proposals on how we can make our economy and society fairer and more democratic. Pikettys economic plans include more economic co-determination, fairer taxes and a stronger welfare state. We have collected his most important demands and show what he stands for.
DISTRIBUTING PROSPERITY MORE FAIRLY
The entire history of mankind is characterized by great inequality. A few people own the majority of the wealth, the rest share what remains. This small group of people is not only extremely wealthy, but also largely controls politics and the economy. Star economist Thomas Piketty wants to change this. He has developed reform proposals that distribute the wealth of our society more fairly and make our lives more democratic. The most important pillars of his reforms are economic co-determination, fairer taxes and a stronger welfare state.
PROFIT INTERESTS USUALLY DECISIVE IN THE WORKPLACE
We spend a large part of our lives at work. While we make democratic decisions in almost all areas of life, there is hardly a trace of democracy in the workplace. In almost all companies, the owners alone make the decisions and employees have to follow suit. At most, they have a say. This is a particular problem because owners and employees often have completely different interests. The workforce wants good, stable jobs that will enable them to provide for themselves and their loved ones in the long term. Owners are primarily interested in profits. Everything else is secondary.
This contrast is particularly extreme in the case of large stock corporations. Shareholders are rarely involved in the work of the company and are often scattered all over the world. Their interest in the company is limited to how much money they can make with their shares.
MORE CO-DETERMINATION CAN MAKE COMPANIES MORE SUCCESSFUL
Piketty wants employees to have a say in their company. They should have half of all voting rights in large companies. If the owners want to change something in the company, they must therefore negotiate with the workforce. If the workforce has new ideas, they can push them through with the support of one vote from the owners. Piketty argues as follows:
Nothing guarantees, for example, that shareholders are more likely than employees to be able to manage a company or invest more in the economic project in the long term. Often enough, the opposite is true: an investment fund can get in and out of the company in the short term, while the employees have generally invested a significant part of their lives, energy, knowledge and skills in it.
In addition, unlike shareholders, employees often live in the vicinity of the company. If the company operates in an environmentally damaging way or if many employees suddenly resign, this has a direct effect on the lives of the employees, but hardly on the lives of the shareholders.