Thomas Piketty’s new book ‘Capital and Ideology’ is as long as ‘War and Peace’

Six years after being catapulted to fame with a blockbuster about the concentration of wealth, the French economist Thomas Piketty has returned with an epic new book on capitalism.

Abiding by the rule that every bestseller demands a follow-up, Capital and Ideology expands on the themes sketched out in Capital in the 21st Century, which sold 2 million copies worldwide after its publication in 2013.

Piketty’s new book – which runs to 1,232 pages and is as long as War and Peace – explores the ideas that have justified inequality down the ages, bemoans the ineffectiveness of the traditional parties of left and right at coming up with solutions for redistributing wealth, and advances his own ideas for making economies fairer.

The book is released in France on Thursday but English language readers will have to wait until next March for the translation.

Among the proposals in the book are that employees should have 50 per cent of the seats on company boards; that the voting power of even the largest shareholders should be capped at 10 per cent; much higher taxes on property, rising to 90 per cent for the largest estates; a lump sum capital allocation of €120,000 (US$132,000) to everyone when they reach 25; and an individualised carbon tax calculated by a personalised card that would track each person’s contribution to global heating.