Inequality is Necessary for Growth, Right?

I’m going to start this post with a proleptic response:

No, nobody is suggesting a Maoist cultural revolution, forcing executives and professors to muck shit on collective farms.

But I feel compelled to share the results from my latest, comparing income inequality to prosperity and prosperity growth in the fifty states.

Contrary to the supply-sider narrative, income inequality appears to have almost no correlation with prosperity growth (.05). What correlation it does show is the opposite of what the supply-siders would have you believe.

This suggests — also contrary to all-too-commonly received wisdom — that there is not in fact an inevitable trade-off between equity and efficiency. That it’s a false choice. That we can in fact have more of both.