Inequality Overstated as Root Cause

Lane Kenworthy argues in a new book that rising income inequality is not the primary driver of democracy decline, poor health, or lower well‑being; empirical data, he says, point to other proximate factors that warrant higher policy priority. The claim reframes debates away from distributional headline metrics toward targeted interventions on poverty, mobility, institutions, and service delivery. — If taken up, this view would redirect political energy and policy design away from broad redistribution toward specific, evidence‑backed levers—changing taxation, welfare, and reform debates.