Capital and Capability

This thesis aims to reconstruct the moral arguments that remain implicit in Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It will be argued that the growth of inequality is being shaped by a self-reinforcing dynamic between political institutions and economic developments. Based on the principle of justice as fairness, institutions should regulate inequalities so that they are beneficial to all members of society, and most importantly the least well-off. Instead, inequality of income has resulted in political inequalities. The growth of income inequality jeopardizes the political and economic institutions tasked with protecting justice in society.