The Nigerian writer Ben Okri began a recent poem with: “They say there is only one way for politics.” But, he concluded, “there’s always a new way.” In the fight against excessive inequality, there are alternative ways forward, yet they are not necessarily novel. U.S. Senator John Sherman, a Republican from Ohio, introduced his landmark 1890 Antitrust Act because he believed that among all the country’s problems, “none is more threatening than the inequality of condition, of wealth, and opportunity.” The philosopher Thomas Paine proposed a minimum inheritance as far back as 1797.

Nor do these various proposals need to reduce inequality at the expense of economic performance. To the contrary, if properly designed, the measures can in fact improve the performance of the economy. A minimum inheritance, for example, could help young people finance their education, start a business, or buy property. A higher minimum wage, meanwhile, could nudge employers to develop higher-wage, higher-productivity opportunities for their employees.

Even in today’s globalized world, there is room for national governments to take steps to reduce inequality. For too long, politicians concerned about inequality and poverty have portrayed the problems as regrettable but unfixable. Yet by and large, the solutions lie in their own hands.