Short answers, pulled from the story.
Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth from some individuals to others through social mechanisms such as taxation, welfare programs, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confiscation, or tort law. The term typically refers to redistribution across an entire economy rather than between selected individuals.
In 1789, Montesquieu wrote in The Spirit of Law that progressive taxation is most suited to liberty, while a regressive tax is most suited to slavery. This principle remains influential in contemporary debates about income redistribution.
The Rajan hypothesis proposes that rising income inequality was at the origin of the 2008 financial crisis. It argues that people on low and middle incomes, particularly in the United States, took on debt to keep consumption levels pace with wealthier households, concentrating borrowing in the housing market. The housing market downturn in 2007 triggered the broader financial collapse. Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz has endorsed this view.
The Islamic economic system uses three key elements for redistributing income and wealth: Ushr and Zakat, the prohibition of usury, and Inheritance Law. Ushr is an obligatory payment from agricultural output at harvest, set at ten percent if the land is rain-irrigated or five percent if irrigation water has a cost. Zakat restricts the excessive accumulation of wealth and directs resources to the poor. The Inheritance Law distributes a deceased person's property among family members in shares explicitly set out in the Quran and not alterable by the owner.
Research shows the gap traces to a fundamental difference in belief about how wealth is earned. In societies where people believe hard work reliably produces rewards, there is lower support for redistributive policies. In societies where people believe that luck or corruption also shape economic outcomes, support for redistribution is higher. This divergence in worldview persists even among people who would materially benefit from redistribution.
Branko Milanovic provided evidence that the richest one percent of the world income distribution were the main beneficiaries of economic growth between 1988 and 2008. More recent analysis found that twenty-seven percent of total worldwide economic growth between 1980 and 2016 accrued to the top one percent. The methodology behind these analyses has been critiqued in publications including The Economist.