Peer2Politics

Consider all the furious attention paid to economic inequality of late, courtesy of Thomas Piketty and Capital in the 21st Century. He argues that increasing inequality is an inevitable outcome of laissez-faire capitalism, and proposes we fix this with a global wealth tax.

The democratising potential of workers’ capital has sometimes been used as a justification for privatising retirement security and the integration of workers’ interests into financial markets. This potential has been somewhat over-stated. It is true that institutional investors, especially pension funds, have rapidly increased in size and market share over recent decades. But this shift in the ownership of capital has not resulted in a shift of control. In Australia, some superannuation funds provide scope for workers, through their unions, to have an influence on investment strategy. In practice, this influence is very limited.