Odd Lots · Friday, September 18, 2026
Authors Owen Zadar and Eric Zwick argue that wealth inequality is driven more by millions of active private business owners than by the passive accumulation of capital envisioned by Thomas Piketty. Their research suggests that a significant portion of wealth comes from operating businesses, not just financial assets.
“So we joke that our book is kind of like pickety with people. So if you happen to read Capital, which is a difficult read, I think we actually also joke that our book we wrote so people could read it, not just collect it.”
“And, um, it's about this accumulation of massive troves of wealth that are generating this almost passive return. And we're saying, well, actually, when you look at the data, it's actually more this like these millions of private business owners who are actively owning and operating businesses in a large case. Their concentrated portfolio is really the business is kind of the main asset. And it's not really just financial capital. It's kind of like human capital is a pretty important part of it.”