Inequality has been named as a culprit in the populist incursions of 2016 and 2017. But what is inequality, and what role does it play in inhibiting or encouraging growth, or in undermining democracy? Does inequality kill, say, by driving people to suicide or to “deaths of despair”? Or is inequality a necessary evil that we must tolerate at certain levels?

IT is customary for the government and indeed a large part of Bangladeshi society to meet news of violence against minorities either as acts committed by fundamentalist or extremist groups or as individual isolated cases.