The democratic ideal has always been related to a moderate level of inequality. I think one big reason why electoral democracy flourished in 19th century America better than 19th century Europe is because you had more equal distribution of wealth in America.

Refusing to deal with numbers rarely serves the interests of the least well-off.

Wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence.

Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers.

Das Kapital, I think, is very difficult to read, and for me, it was not very influential.

I loved American universities. In many ways, they are better organized - certainly than French universities.

The U.S. is the country that invented progressive taxation of income and of inherited wealth in the 1910s and 20s.