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brownbat · 2014-06-28 · Original thread
> so far I find his take on Piketty shallow and unpersuasive

I feel like he alluded to critiques that have been handled with far more depth by economists, but he was talking in a medium that doesn't really permit much more than a shallow, abbreviated treatment.

> it strikes me more as the view that is convenient for him to have

Some of the economists pushing the second critique Marc uses, that recent data doesn't line up with Piketty's model, aren't just complaining out of convenience or self-interest.

Peter H. Lindert writes in the NBER review "Making the Most of Capital in the 21st Century,"[1] "Oddly, however, for the twentieth century trends that he and his collaborators have documented so well, the relevance of the wealth/income and capital/income ratios for the income distribution is less compelling. Across countries, the levels and movements of this ratio do not correlate well with those in income inequality."

Before dismissing Lindert as a right-wing partisan, check out some of Lindert's other work, where he argues that social programs don't have as large an impact on GDP as most people claim,[2] or his arguments in favor of progressive taxation.[3] [4]

Matt Rognline also has strong critiques of Piketty's reasoning and data,[5] even while emphasizing that he believes inequality is still a hugely important concern.

It's possible to worry about Piketty regardless of what's in your wallet.

Regardless, even if Andreessen's motivations were suspect, it doesn't actually tell you anything about the truth or falsity of his claims. "Bad faith" isn't sufficient to make an argument invalid, anymore than good intentions can make something true. Andreessen and these economists' reasoning might be poor, or Piketty might be able to salvage his model by convincing everyone that recent trends really are an aberration. More analysis will be useful to be sure. But questions about motivations or who is arguing in good faith or out of self-interest won't really have any impact on the outcome of those discussions.

[1] Sadly, gated: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20232 [2] http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=372842 [3] http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Public-Spending-Economic-Eight... [4] http://www.economist.com/node/2553322 [5] http://www.mit.edu/~mrognlie/piketty_diminishing_returns.pdf

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