Countries with extreme inequality, such as El Salvador and Iran, have undergone upheavals or extended civil strife that have cost countless lives and set back development
220 PART TWO Problems and Policies: Domestic progress by decades. In sum, with high inequality, the focus of politics often tends to be on supporting or resisting the redistribution of the existing economic pie rather than on policies to increase its size (Chapter 11 examines these concerns in more detail).15