But you don&#x27;t necessarily increase poverty by decreasing utility and increasing inequality. Arguably, 8-hour workweek and restriction of child labor reduced utility of people (at least on the short-term), but markedly improved their quality of life and probably decreased inequality as well. IMO it&#x27;s likely that we would be much more productive and &quot;better off&quot; in a society where we&#x27;re all &quot;equal&quot; (to some degree - e.g. a very good model of society is described in the story Manna by Marshall Brain - every day, everybody get&#x27;s the same amount of energy (which cannot be stored) and they can use it however they want - including donating it to worthy causes).<p>Without proportionate representation, it&#x27;s unlikely that you can achieve &quot;everyone better off&quot;, because your measure will be biased - such a system practically ensures that the rich&#x2F;powerful are better off at the expense of the poor, because their desires are weighted more heavily!