Inequality Piketty Doesn’t Examine Is U.S. Human Capital

French economist Thomas Piketty sparked a global debate on inequality by arguing that the wealthy pull ahead by reaping disparate rewards from financial capital. He may be missing the human half of the story.

When defining capital, Piketty excludes the kind that “consists of an individual’s labor power, skills, training and abilities” because it can’t be owned or traded on a market, according to his best-selling book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.”