zlacker

> Inequality is one of a number of fake issues that are major unhelpful distractions.

Inequality causes crime in developed nationsp[0]:

> Comparing across industrialised societies, higher inequality—greater dispersion in the distribution of economic resources across individuals—is associated with higher crime and lower social trust. These associations appear empirically robust, and meet epidemiological criteria for being considered causal.

Inequality also has health impacts[1]. "The evidence that large income differences have damaging health and social consequences is strong."

0. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-80897-8

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02779...

>>jwestb+(OP)
Your 0 link is a computer simulation. It is literally reporting that researchers imagined a world and reported on it. That is an academically worthy thing to do, but not evidence of how reality works.

The second paper is difficult to argue about because I can't read it, but it is difficult to imagine that someone's quality of life could rise but their health worsens. That seems radically unlikely to the point where you need a pretty solid research base before taking the idea seriously. The paper is probably either making a mistake or says something different in the body text to what the title implies because it is likely that income inequality rose and living standards dropped.

It is the living standard that leads to outcomes. The inequality is a red herring. People are so bad at guessing relative income that they can't even detect real inequality. They usually pick up on poverty instead, which is completely different.