Abundance

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson examine how the United States has faced decades of unaffordability and shortage across housing, immigration, clean energy, and public infrastructure. They argue that current problems stem not from external villains but from how previous generations' solutions—regulations and laws from the 1970s onward—now obstruct progress on contemporary challenges like urban density and green energy projects. The authors contend that while our ability to identify problems has improved, our capacity to solve them has declined. Government institutions designed to ensure careful deliberation have become too slow to act effectively. Klein and Thompson propose that progress requires honest recognition of institutional failures: liberals must acknowledge when government is failing, and conservatives must recognize when government is needed. Abundance traces political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and outlines a path toward a politics focused on building rather than merely protecting and preserving. The book addresses how movements centered on scarcity are gaining influence globally and offers an approach that confronts both the practical challenges and the legitimate frustrations many people feel.