What’s the Link Between Economic Inequality and Violent Leveling Events?

Economic inequality and significant violent leveling events are linked. So what does that mean?

The pandemic has significantly increased the wealth of billionaires, and at the same time, inches us ever closer to unacceptable outcomes. Stanford Professor Walter Scheidel studied 10,000 years of economic inequality and found that historically only four leveling events have had any meaningful impact on economic inequality.

War, Revolution, Plague, and State Collapse

This is in response to the Kako post, Correlation between Violence and Inequality, which shares an article about and link to The Great Leveler, book by Walter Scheidel.

There were a couple of ‘oh shit’ moments in my learning quest and this was certainly one of them.
So many people were barely treading water before Covid. They were making ends meet, but if their income was in any way affected by the pandemic they are now underwater. If we don’t come together and save them, the stability of our nation is in serious jeopardy.

We already see that Billionaires are getting richer during the pandemic. The problem is only intensifying.

We need to substantially change the way we distribute the gains of financial success. We can’t let everything go to the top.

Is change possible?

This is what Scheidel says “History does not determine the future. Things can change, but change is slow. Business as usual may not be enough. We have to think harder about how to bring change in today’s world.”A peaceful remedy to economic inequality may start with what Scheidel calls “an understanding of historical context, because simply electing the right politicians who promise that everything will be OK is a short-term view.” For the longer term, Scheidel said, “I am not advocating war, but repeating the same old ideas ignores the lessons of history. Something truly innovative and original may have to happen in order to create lasting change.”

I agree with Scheidel. We need persistent innovation and experimentation to avoid an even bigger catastrophe. Something like….Kako.