Piketty wins FT business book of the year

“Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” an analysis of the roots and consequences of inequality by Thomas Piketty, has been named the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

Andrew Hill of the Financial Times writes, “The FT has in the past questioned some of the French economist’s research for Capital, but the book has provoked a fierce debate about growing inequality and the means to tackle it. ‘While not everyone agreed on the policy prescriptions, we recognised the quality of the scholarship,’ Mr Barber said on behalf of the judges. He called it ‘a challenging, but ultimately important book.’

“Weighing the merits of the six finalists during an intense discussion on Tuesday, the seven judges praised Mr Piketty’s book, which runs to nearly 700 pages, for its depth of research, ambition and influence. ‘The issue of inequality touches everything, from CEO pay to political unrest,’ one judge pointed out.

“The Business Book of the Year Award has selected 152 books for its longlist since 2005. Together the longlisted books constitute a reader’s guide to a turbulent decade for business, media and publishing, with the financial crisis at its centre

“Mr Piketty, who is in China promoting his book, was unable to attend the award ceremony in London on Tuesday night. But in his acceptance video, he said the objective of his work, which spans three centuries and 20 countries, was ‘to promote the democratisation of economic knowledge’. Thanking the judges for the prize, he added: ‘Issues about economic wealth and capital and public debt are too important . . . to be left to a small group of economists and statisticians.'”

Read more here.