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

I certainly agree that capital is not a one-dimensional object, and that the return on capital takes very different forms for different assets or different people.

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

Our modern democratic ideal is based on the hope that inequalities will be based on merit more than inheritance or luck.

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.

We want capitalism and market forces to be the slave of democracy rather than the opposite.

When the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based.