CONCLUSION

Working from historical data, I find it difficult to predict how the present situation will develop and what form the future will take. But I’ll offer two hypotheses all the same.

First, once the consequences of climate change start having a more concrete effect on the lives of individuals, it’s not impossible that attitudes toward the economic system may shift very quickly, in Europe as in the rest of the world.

Second, I hope I’ve convinced you that the history of inequality is not a long, tranquil stream. Many battles have been fought on behalf of equality and can be fought on its behalf; many have been won. Over the long haul, there has been a general trend toward equality, a real if limited one. Questions about the economy, about finance, government debt, and wealth distribution are too important to be left in the hands of a small group of economists and experts, many of them very conservative. Instead of widening the historical and comparative perspective, they often look through the wrong end of the telescope to find narrow solutions. We need other social science researchers—historians, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, ethnologists—to sink their teeth into these questions, grapple with their technical aspects, and take a stand. These issues shouldn’t be left to others. The democratization of economic and historical knowledge may, should, and ought to become an important part of a movement whose aim is to democratize society as a whole and better apportion power.