The political economy of education and inequality: reflections on Piketty

Abstract

ABSTRACTPiketty’s Capitalism in the twenty-first century provides a superb, detailed historical analysis of the evolution of income and wealth inequality. Piketty demonstrates vast and increasing inequality that he argues might possibly be tempered in the future by economic growth and educational expansion supplemented by government redistributive policies. However, Piketty has little understanding of the reproductive nature of education, the limits of economic growth, or the fundamental problems of capitalism. In this paper, I depart from a political economy perspective to examine the bankruptcy of the underlying neoclassical economic theory he relies upon. In particular, I discuss how Piketty mistakenly sees capitalism as, in large part, a meritocracy, and the implications for education.