But there is also bad inequality that translates into a host of economic and social ills: lack of access to education, health, nutrition and credit markets; a lack of social cohesion that makes it very difficult for societies to adjust in bad times; and political instability that stifles investment. More pernicious still, high inequality often goes hand in hand with a lack of political rights for large segments of society who are shut out from the political process which then writes the rules of market capitalism in a way that favours the economic and political elites, further exacerbating a vicious cycle of political and economic disempowerment.