According to Walter Scheidel, a Stanford University-based historian, lethal pandemics constitute one of “four horsemen of levelling” along with mass mobilisation warfare, transformative revolution and state collapse.

If Covid-19 really is a “lethal pandemic” this could reduce both income and wealth inequality, both of which have increased significantly over the past two decades or so.

Perhaps it already has in some respects. After all, the lockdowns imposed by...