This review focuses on two issues underlying Piketty’s analysis: (1) the inequality issue and (2) the question of the image of the human being. Whereas the historical chapters might be the most interesting because they are well founded, the bulk of reactions to this book concentrate on the proposed solution: a radical revision of property rights and redistribution of property. Most chapters of this huge study are dedicated to a historical analysis spanning class societies to owner societies, where private property attained an almost sacrosanct status. Piketty addresses this development as a problem that poses a great risk of destabilizing modern societies and fueling social nativism. Overall speaking, however, the rich have become richer. The world has seen an era of unprecedented economic growth over the past decades (IMF, 2011), which made people on average better off. Journal of Economics, Theology and Religion, vol. Antoinette Rijsenbilt / Cornelis van der Kooi
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