Falling Inequality in Twentieth-Century France

Thomas Piketty’s book Les hauts revenus en France au XXe siecle is based on a systematic examination of administrative data dating back to the creation of income tax in 1914. In it, Piketty provides an original analysis of the evolution of income distribution in France over the twentieth century and the role played by the taxation of income. Falling squarely in the tradition of the pioneering work on the history of inequality in the United States undertaken fifty years ago by Simon Kuznets, the book is discussed in a series of brief articles by Francois Bourguignon and Gilles Postel-Vinay. In the final article, Piketty responds to their comments.