I was into journalism and history when I attended college. I took one course in economics. I don’t remember whether the two major ways of making money were discussed: 1) income from investments and 2) wages from jobs. Economics, sometimes referred to as the Dismal Science, has seen new life this year after a book was published by Thomas Piketty, a French economist. The book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, examines what happens when wealth from investments grows faster than wages from jobs. Specifically, does the society become more unequal?

Piketty concludes that when investment growth exceeds wage growth, inequality increases in a society. His proposed solutions are controversial, but many economists believe that Piketty’s findings of inequality are correct.

One reviewer, who agrees with the inequality finding but not the offered solutions, suggests that cultural factors are more significant in increasing the wealth of individuals (Tyler Cowen, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2014). He points to the tendency of immigrants’ offspring to advance far beyond their usually poorer forebears. Cowan is not suggesting that upbringing is the only answer to inequality. He offers other aids for reducing inequality such as limiting tax deductions and improving education. Nevertheless, his emphasis on child rearing brings a neglected issue to the discussion on income inequality.

If proper raising of children is so important to our society, why do we make it difficult for parents to spend necessary time with their offspring? Other countries allow working mothers long maternity leaves, some stretching to years, to be with their children during their beginning years. But wouldn’t fathers also profit from career breaks to be full time parents for a season?

Childhood only lasts a few years, a much shorter time than most careers.