Thomas Piketty to join LSE

Professor Piketty, whose best-selling 2013 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century is credited with redefining the post-crash global economic debate, will join the LSE’s new International Inequalities Institute.

The academic – who has been described as a “rock star economist” by the Financial Times given his global fame and influence – will teach postgraduate students and work with them on research on a part-time basis, the LSE said.

The 44-year-old French economist, who was a PhD student at the LSE, has frequently highlighted economic inequality in his work.

He has called for a global wealth tax on the assets of the super-rich, arguing that too much wealth is concentrated among those at the top of society.

Professor Piketty, who is a professor at the Paris School of Economics and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, said that his appointment at the LSE’s new institute was a “unique opportunity…to create a truly dynamic and exciting inter-disciplinary centre which will make a real difference to our understanding of the causes and consequences of inequality”.

Mike Savage, professor of sociology and co-director of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, said Professor Piketty had “revolutionised our understanding of inequality”.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to establish the International Inequalities Institute and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him,” he said.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com