French economist Thomas Piketty has caused an international stir recently with his book about disparities in international wealth and income, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. The widening gap between the very rich and everyone else, he said Monday, has returned to late 19th century levels, and is unlikely to reverse itself.

Rather, Mr. Piketty painted a picture of a global policy structure that is increasingly stacked against low- and middle-income households. At a morning discussion with journalists and economists hosted by the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Mr. Piketty called for a number of changes, including changes in tax policy, more transparency into wealth and capital accumulation, and better education opportunities for lower-income students, as some ways to try to address the balance.