I'm familiar with it. The obvious question to ask in response is, why is r > g? What can be done about it?
Piketty's answer is more or less "do socialism", but that's not obviously correct. For example, a lot of government spending programs tend to funnel money into well-connected industries, which are the things already accumulating capital. Likewise, transfer payments to individuals can be absorbed by monopolists if the monopolies are allowed to persist.
And that, really, is the true cause of it. Market consolidation. Regulatory capture. If there is more competition, the competition lowers margins, and then more of the surplus goes to the consumer instead of the investor. If the incumbents capture the government (or the government is careless about creating market barriers to entry) then competition is reduced, margins increase and more returns go to capital. The latter is clearly what's happening in the housing market.
Piketty's answer is more or less "do socialism", but that's not obviously correct. For example, a lot of government spending programs tend to funnel money into well-connected industries, which are the things already accumulating capital. Likewise, transfer payments to individuals can be absorbed by monopolists if the monopolies are allowed to persist.
And that, really, is the true cause of it. Market consolidation. Regulatory capture. If there is more competition, the competition lowers margins, and then more of the surplus goes to the consumer instead of the investor. If the incumbents capture the government (or the government is careless about creating market barriers to entry) then competition is reduced, margins increase and more returns go to capital. The latter is clearly what's happening in the housing market.