What I cannot grasp is countries, such as the Nordic ones, where wages are so tight. Why would you want to stop say being a general office clerk making $38,000 to be a supervisor getting paid say $40,000? Where is the incentive?
That’s the catch. There _are_ countries which have stabilized nicely at a comfortable level; sure they don’t have comparable poverty rates, but neither is there incentive to do a lot better. Expect the country to eventually stagnate into oblivion, most content where they are but the ambitious going elsewhere.
On that last note, someone should study the correlation between immigration vs inequality: sure we have a huge disparity of wealth, but we also have a huge number of people trying to get in here for a shot at that wealth.