AlthoughIstartfromMarx,Igobeyondhim.SomybookaimstoreconstructMarx’sworkinthespiritofasystematic-dialecticallogic.Idonottakeaposi-tionhereon‘whatMarxreallymeant’,stilllesson‘whatHegelreallymeant’,noryeton‘whetherMarxgotHegelrightorwrong’.1WhatIaimatisentirelysub-stantive,eventhoughIdrawheavilyuponmyreadingsofHegelandofMarx.InsofarasIappropriatetheirideasformypurposesitiseasytodisce…
Th e distribution of wealth is one of today’s most widely discussed and controversial issues. But what do we really know about its evolution over the long term? Do the dynamics of private capital accumulation inevitably lead to the concentration of wealth in ever fewer hands, as Karl Marx believed in the nineteenth century? Or do the balancing forces of growth, competition, and technological …