Capital

The latest entry in a special project in which business and labor leaders, social scientists, technology visionaries, activists, and journalists weigh in on the most consequential changes in the workplace.

Workers of the world unite and retire.

In what’s been criticized as a modern-day version of indentured servitude, a new batch of start-ups are giving investors the opportunity to turn people into profit by buying a piece of their future earnings. Could this be a solution to our student debt problem?

Patrimonial capitalism—and the landed or urban gentry living off of inherited wealth—was dealt a mortal blow by the Great Depression and World Wars. But it's making a comeback, and the only way to stop it might be a worldwide tax on capital.