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The Piketty Affair

Duration: 26 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Available for over a year

Did 'rock-star' French economist Thomas Piketty get his numbers wrong? His theories about rising inequality and the increasing importance of capital have been the talk of the economic and political worlds this year. And part of their appeal has been the massive amount of data Piketty has brought together to back them.

But the Financial Times claims to have found significant problems with Piketty's data on wealth, and says this undermines his claims about rising inequality. Tim Harford examines the FT's claims and Thomas Piketty's response.

Is there any truth to the catchy 'statistic' doing the rounds that there's as much land given over to golf courses as housing in England. More or Less gets out the tape measure and sizes up the country's fairways and putting greens, its rooftops and gardens to find out.

And we examine two stories in the news this week - is racism on the rise in Britain, and should we be concerned that several young men who have died recently were players of the video game Call of Duty?

(Image: Best Selling Economist Author Thomas Piketty Speaks At UC Berkeley. Credit: Getty Images) Show less

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