Inequality makes a compelling explanation for collapse, but history resists shortcuts. Large wealth differences can affect political legitimacy and access to resources, but the relationship is not mechanically deterministic.
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Imperial collapse often combined military, ecological, administrative and external pressures. An empire can face several simultaneous crises without one tidy cause.
Measurements of inequality from ancient and medieval sources are incomplete and difficult to compare with modern statistics. Ancient inequality statistics are much harder to reconstruct than modern ones.
The crucial question is how disparities actually weakened institutions. A plausible explanation must show how distributional strain actually constrained an empire's institutions.
Was inequality driving the trouble, or growing because of it?