The World Is Having a Piketty Moment

A year after Thomas Piketty’s investigation into global inequality captured the attention of the world’s economic thinkers, policy makers in political-monopoly states are taking his lessons to heart in their annual budgets.

Governments in South Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore adopted a decidedly populist bent this week, expanding help for lower-income households and, in some cases, boosting levies on the wealthier members of society. China, which has taken steps to strengthen its health-care and social security programs in recent years, releases its budget next month.