Piketty on “Diffusion of Knowledge”

Today’s Financial Times has a review of Thomas Piketty’s new book. I commented by pointing out that Piketty views knowledge and educational systems to be of tantamount importance, but I worry he doesn’t see the problem. Here is my comment.

I hope the new book addresses what, in his previous book, Prof. Piketty points out is necessary for reducing inequality –  “diffusion of knowledge”.  He writes,

In short, the principal force for convergence—the diffusion of knowledge—is only partly natural and spontaneous. It also depends in large part on educational policies, access to training and to the acquisition of appropriate skills, and associated institutions. Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century . Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.  (Search the book for 11 other references to “diffusion of knowledge”.)

In the US, the intuitions that are most responsible for that diffusions, the university system, from  which all education flows, has become corrupted – something observed as far back as David Riesman and Clark Kerr in the 80’s, and, as recently as Bill Gross just recently. (See quotes and references on my blog, inside-higher-ed )

I look forward to seeing what Prof. Piketty recommends for this problem. I do worry though, that from his educational background, he is not aware of the problems. As a friend of mine once observed, “To people from the best schools, the rest of the system is like a foreign country that they have no basis for understanding.” If that is the case, then we are in deep trouble because  only the people at the top can cause change.