Danielle Allen and Thomas Piketty Discuss the Global Move Toward Equality

The 2022 Seminar in Private Law opened on Feb. 1 with a conversation between French economist Professor Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics (EHESS) and American political theorist Danielle Allen of Harvard University. (Allen participated in the seminar in her academic capacity.) 

Piketty spoke to some of the main themes of his forthcoming book A Brief History of Equality (Harvard University Press), in which he which emphasizes the long-term worldwide development toward, rather than away from, equality. To further this movement, Piketty proposes measures to achieve an even more complete realization of equality writ large. He refers to this aim as “participatory” or “democratic” socialism. Its two pillars are progressive taxation and worker participation. 

Piketty identifies the deconcentration of wealth with the rise of the patrimonial middle class since the 1970s as an important source of rising equality. At the same time, he observes that the persistence of hyper-concentrated wealth remains a signifcant impediment to a more robust form of equality that — crucially — encompasses full political equality. His reform proposals aim for a more equal distribution of wealth as a first and necessary step toward more equal participation and includes a “minimum inheritance” for all citizens. Reflecting on the role of crises such as global warming, Piketty suggested that these upheavals can accelerate the global move toward equality.

For Allen, the COVID-19 pandemic provides a stress test for societal commitments to equality and democracy, an idea she explores in Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Allen also stressed the importance of focusing on the aim of equality rather than on observing inequality. She also shares with Piketty the conviction that society must move toward more participatory models to achieve equality. However, for Allen, political equality is not the ultimate goal but the prerequisite for human flourishing and justice. She stressed that, in the 21st century, social equality and non-discrimination must be added to claims for rights and freedoms to truly bring about the empowerment necessary for such flourishing. Ultimately, Allen envisions a move toward an “embedded liberalism” which allows for social difference without leading to hierarchies and domination. 

Despite their diverging starting points, the two speakers agreed on the need for a multidimensional approach tackling different instantiations of (in)equality. Their conversation continued with the audience and move to reflections on the role of political struggles in the global move toward equality, as well as questions of institutional reform, including the role of constitutional reform. 

The 2022 Seminar in Private Law examines questions about the relationship between private orderings and public justice. Organizers hope to explore how private law and the private arrangements that it enables and facilitates — through contracts, property rights, corporate law, and other means — relate to (public) concerns with justice. This year, the NYU Contract Theory and Law Colloquium and the Yale Law School Center for Private Law are co-organizing and co-hosting the speaker series. 

Seminar sessions are free and open to the public. The series takes place online or in hybrid (in-person/online) format. To receive information from the seminar mailing list, email private.law@yale.edu.