Economists have been obsessed for years with the unemployment/inflation tradeoff. Also the inequality/growth tradeoff. The former was basically as sophisticated as saying "um, I think if unemployment gets below....umm... 6%? maybe that would bad." The latter was as sophisticated as posing the question and then never answering it but still believing it. That maybe higher inequality could be *bad* for growth, just thinking out loud here, was never really seriously considered. Both of these things have been excuses for really horrible policies which have caused so much suffering.
