Is it possible to move up in this world? Are Americans stuck? Our guest today is
, an American historian and staff writer at The Atlantic magazine. His new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity, explores the various ways the American dream has been stymied — by the consolidation of property and wealth, the abuse of environmental regulations, the legacy of redlining, among other factors. But the book is not a diatribe; it offers a hopeful program for how we can make America better. and engage in a lively conversation with Yoni that will leave you looking at America in a different, more hopeful way.Yoni’s book is personal in its inspiration: he found himself living in a working-class neighborhood — a so-called “zone of emergence,” where underprivileged immigrants once gained a foothold on the American dream — that was no longer affordable to middle-class families. But it is also a political book. Yoni got the sense that something had gone profoundly wrong in America: “This was a contrarian thought in the Obama era. Now it is conventional wisdom.”
What can be done to help the American dream become real again? Is mobility a “central American value”? Do policies that help communities stay alive and stable actually worsen inequality and class stratification? Should the Democratic Party become a party of economic growth, rather than regulation or even “degrowth”? These are the questions that Damir and Sam invite Yoni to wrestle with in a lively and deeply informed episode.
In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Yoni discusses how to harness market power in a way that “centers mobility”; the three talk about the gap between intent and impact in environmental regulations; Yoni explains why technocrats will always be needed but will never be enough; and Yoni speculates as to why Americans long for a strong leader — for better or worse.
Required Reading and Listening:
Yoni Appelbaum, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity (Amazon).
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Amazon).
Reihan Salam, “Want Abundance in Housing? Acknowledge that Greed Is Good” (City Journal).
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (Project Gutenberg).
Jeffersonian democracy (CrashCourse).
Podcast with Martha Nussbaum (WoC).
This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.
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