Wage-growth is conceptually different from the gains from trade within an economy. An isolated individual who doesn&#x27;t trade(eg subsistence farmer) would produce goods of value of an order of magnitude less than current US GDP per capita.<p>Similarly, your hypothetical individual who &#x27;makes someone worse off&#x27; must by definition be inheriting some scarce asset, be lucky, deceptive, coercive or inflicting negative externalities. Otherwise why would anyone trade with him?<p>This is not to say that inequality isn&#x27;t a problem or greater redistribution would not be desirable. But you need to frame the problem correctly.