The success of Professor Piketty’s book Capital proves a point different than the one he intends to make.
For this argument we assume that an economist would classify
Capital as a real asset (intellectual)
and an economist would count the income from royalties as a rent. Thus the
results of Capital would be
categorized as a factor in “G” (growth) rather than as a factor in “R” (for
return on capital).
For the sake of argument (and recognition of its merit) let’s
assume the publisher sells several million copies and Piketty’s royalties
amount to tens of millions of dollars/Euros.
On the other hand, the probable impact on governmental policies
from the information (facts, proofs, ideas, analogies and arguments) in
the book will total billions of dollars in the U.S. alone. The real value in
the book is the discourse it is stimulating, the motives thus aroused and the actions
that eventuate.
Capital is
non-financial capital. It is a masterpiece of intellectual, social and cultural
capital. As predicted by Pierre Bourdieu middle class and upper middle class
individuals world-wide will invest their discretionary time and money in acquiring
and socializing the content to produce positive economic results for
themselves. In some cases individuals will organize their actions and the
results of these cooperative efforts, when positive, will be changes in the tax
codes, in governmental spending. When negative they will launch revolutions
and/or revolts. Piketty’s Capital,
like Marx’s Capital before it, can
have the “butterfly effect.” This aspect of information is neither G nor R but “I,”
a non-economic force seen at turning points in history.
Professor Piketty suggests that current forces will society
to regress back to conditions like the 1850’s or perhaps the early 1900’s.
Based on our analysis of the impact of non-financial capital in Bourdieu's Demon we think the future
will look nothing like the past. We have created a new field not simply a new
age. In this field information (like Capital) and its socialization will create
unforeseen possibilities.
