Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Piketty Zeroes In on Putin's Pain Point

The West should stop relying on sanctions and instead target Russia's massive offshore wealth.

Piketty's new paper.

Photographer: The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
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After alerting the Western world to the alarming rise of inequality, Thomas Piketty has turned his attention to Russia. To someone who has lived through Russia's transition from Communism to crony capitalism, his take on that transition reveals deep flaws in his overall methodology -- but some of his conclusions should have important implications for Western policy toward Russia.

QuickTake Vladimir Putin