Rate of return

When the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based. ~ Thomas Piketty

In finance, rate of return is the profit on an investment. It may be measured either in absolute terms (e.g., dollars) or as a percentage of the amount invested.

Quotes

• When the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based.
  • Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), p. 1