Like almost everything else in social life, the relationship between equality and economic performance is likely to be contingent rather than fixed, depending on the deeper causes of inequality and many mediating factors. So the emerging new consensus on the harmful effects of inequality is as likely to mislead as the old one was.
作为一门科学，经济学可以说没有揭示过任何普遍真理。与社会生活中的几乎所有其他方面一样，平等和经济表现之间的关系可能是偶然的而不是固定的，取决于不平等的更深层次原因和诸多中介因素。因此，关于不平等的有害影响的新共识可能与旧共识一样具有误导性。