A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems
"Altogether, America has too much venting and not enough inventing."
What It’s About
From COVID tests to housing and healthcare, Thompson pulls a common thread: regulatory barriers have restricted the supply of essential goods and services, raising their cost and sapping Americans’ paychecks. His proposed "abundance agenda" offers a fresh and pragmatic framework for revitalizing the American economy that elides traditional political divides.
Upshot
Thompson calls for:
- Removing Artificial Constraints: Identifying and eliminating regulatory barriers that block needed housing, healthcare, and renewable energy development
- Expanding Supply: Prioritizing policies that increase the availability of homes, medical professionals, and clean energy infrastructure
- Making Growth Central: Reorienting national priorities toward productivity-driven improvements in living standards
Did you know? Since 1980, average home prices in San Francisco have increased by more than 900%.
Why It Matters
Thompson's agenda promises, half-tongue-in-cheek, to solve all of America’s problems. The vision is compelling: eliminate barriers to new supply, especially in our most sclerotic sectors, and they might take a few problems with them.
Who Wrote It
Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic covering economics, culture, and technology. He is the co-author of Abundance with the New York Times’ Ezra Klein.
