to the effect that the energetic effort you might expect

来期待这些被挤出上层社会的人
from those people who had been pushed down might increase

能对工作积极度和经济竞争性
the intensity of effort and competition in the economy.

产生积极的正面作用
He then makes a series of gestures towards biological darwinism.

他又提出带有生物达尔文主义色彩的观点
To the effect that Britain led the industrial revolution

之所以英国引领了工业革命的浪潮
because it had a disproportionate number of very able people,

是因为英国有更多有能力的人
and the assumption here is that the rich

这里是假设富人
were more able than the poor.

比穷人更有能力
It had a disproportionate number of very able people

在金字塔形社会的各个阶层
in all the levels of the pyramid.

都有更多有能力的人
Now the empirics on that one are really thin.

现在看来这一经验主义的说法很单薄
There's an awful lot of vapor in the intellectual process there.

其思维过程中有许多虚无缥缈的东西