Since the 1970s, the United States and much of the developed world has seen massive wealth inequality. While many agree inequality is a problem, few agree on the best way to solve it.

从历史上看，不平等会随着时间的推移而急剧上升和下降，为了找到这种起伏的原因，斯坦福大学历史学家沃尔特·沙伊德尔(Walter Scheidel)调查了历史上不平等下降的每一个重要时刻。他的结论很难令人振奋。

In a recent article inThe Atlantic, Scheidel argues that the only events in history that have sufficiently addressed inequality have been catastrophes. In the twentieth century, two devastating World Wars acted as levelers on the societies they affected. In the Middle Ages, bubonic plague in Europe and the devastating small pox epidemic in the Americas claimed so many lives that the cost of labor skyrocketed, and, without workers, capital and land decreased in value.

Violent, redistributive revolutions in countries like China and the former Soviet Union succeeded in setting wages and reducing inequality; however, Scheidel argues that such redistributive schemes have only been possible with violent and oppressive coercion from the state. Other, less rigidly enforced land redistribution programs—in Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan—failed after a few years as the wealthy re-accumulated land.

The conclusion looks bleak: maybe only cataclysmic disaster can fix the ongoing disaster of inequality.

Read the whole article:https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/scheidel-great-leve...