Is economic growth depressed by social friction arising from income inequality? Every list of economic impacts of inequality that I have seen includes this. Maybe I’m not good at seeing things, but I don’t see much of it in the United States.

This is the fourth article in my series on the economic impacts of inequality. Previous articles were Economic Impacts of Inequality, Impacts of Inequality: Economic Stagnation, and Economic Inequality, Innovation and Cronyism.

Is there economically significant tension between rich and poor? I see racial tension, as we’ve had recently in Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation after the Trayvon Martin shooting. I haven’t seen clear evidence of an economic impact from this, but there may be some.

Are there other social frictions at work? I see people irritated by loud cell phone users, by drivers who seem to be distracted by their cell phones, and by pedestrians too intent on their text messages to watch where they are walking. I don’t see poor people upset because someone in the One Percent has a chateau in Provence. Maybe I don’t spend enough time with poor people, but I’m pretty sure that not too much productivity is being lost by lower income folks hating the wealthy.

The Occupy Wall Street movement displayed antipathy toward the One Percent, but there was not a large economic impact, nor was there much staying power to the movement.

In other countries, the economic impacts may be much greater. Was Arab Spring a reaction to authoritarian rule or unequal income distribution? Although a number of commentators connected the uprisings to inequality, the Middle East and North Africa region is not as unequal as sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. Inequality may have contributed to dissatisfaction, but it cannot be the primary explanation.

Next in this series: Education and Redistribution.