Michael S. Strain - The American Dream Is Not Dead (But Populism Could Kill It)

Advance Praise

Michael Strain offers a trenchant look at the material standard of living of U.S. households. If his message were summarized on a hat, it would read Make America Grateful Again.

N. GREGORY MANKIW, Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics, Harvard University and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

Michael Strains important book is a welcome antidote to the pervasive pessimism surrounding economic policy debates. I dont agree on everything but feel better after reading it about our economy and more importantly about how policy can make it better.

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury

Without glossing over the real challenges that too many Americans face, Michael Strain makes a persuasive case that the American dream remains alive and well. And, he provides important policy recommendations that policymakers would do well to heed in order to strengthen the American dream.

PAUL RYAN, former Speaker of the House of Representatives

In this important book, Mike Strain persuasively bolsters his title claim that the American Dream is not dead. While the nation faces disruptive challenges from economic changes from trade and technology, those very changes help propel our prosperity. What could kill the American Dream, as Strain notes, is a populist call for protection. Every serious student of the current economic and political situation should read this book.

GLENN HUBBARD, dean emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School, and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

Before you declare the American Dream is dead, you should take the time to read Michael Strains case to the contrary. Strain provides a thoughtful and balanced assessment of the evidence on the state of American workers and families, in the process rejecting some of the claims coming from both the left and the right.

JASON FURMAN, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

Michael Strain is one of the keenest economists at work on the center-right today. In this brief but important book, he dares to bring facts to the overheated and often poorly informed debate over the state of the American Dream. Engaging and convincing, it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our economic presentand future.

RICH LOWRY, editor of National Review

In this lively contribution to our national debate, Michael Strain presents the evidence for how Americans are really doing. Strain shows were faring better than youd think from doom-sayers of left and right. He also argues that misunderstanding our real situation could lead to foolish and damaging policies that would make things worse, not better. An important short book.

WILLIAM KRISTOL, director, Defending Democracy Together

This vital book suggests we reconsider the doom and gloom economic narrative, in favor of acknowledging that ongoing economic progress continues to deliver rising material prosperity each year, increasing opportunity, and greater freedom from want. The argument matters, because the strongest foundation for a small c conservative perspective is that a system that delivers such progress is worth conserving. Strains intellectual depth, policy breadth, and relentless honesty mark him as one of the leading conservative intellectuals of our time. Im no conservative, partly because I might see the case for change more clearly than Strain. But Strain asks hard questions, presents uncomfortable data, and makes counterarguments more clearly than any other right-of-center wonk. Whatever side of politics youre on, this smart little book will make you a better wonk, with a clearer sense about the facts that underpin the biggest policy debates of our time.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, professor of economics and public policy, University of Michigan

Just how good or bad are things in America right now? Michael Strains The American Dream Is Not Dead is the most balanced and informative take on this question you are likely to see.

TYLER COWEN, professor of economics, George Mason University and coauthor of the Marginal Revolution blog

The American Dream is alive and wellnot based on wishful thinking, but on an abundance of evidence. Michael Strains balanced and expert presentation, acknowledging problems but identifying the strengths in Americas economy, is exactly what the policy debate has needed: a data-driven look at good news that has been ignored by politicians of left and right alike.

CHARLES MURRAY, F. A. Hayek Chair, American Enterprise Institute

While Im not convinced that the American Dream is entirely healthy, Im more optimistic about its prospects after reading this book. Im regularly on the other side of an argument from Michael Strain, yet I crave reading what he writes, because in it Ill find more compelling reasoning than Ill typically otherwise encounter. Michaels willingness to engage constructively and convincingly makes him an important voice in any meaningful discussion about the American Dream.

ALI VELSHI, host, MSNBC

Michael Strains The American Dream Is Not Dead should be read widely by people who thinkor fearotherwise. In clear and simple style, this accessible, no-nonsense treatise lays out the basic facts about the track record of the American economy, and how the economy has delivered for ordinary Americans by such yardsticks as wage growth, middle class job creation, family income, and economic mobility. By these and other criteria, he argues, performance in recent decades has been tolerably goodcertainly much better than many of us have been told.

NICHOLAS EBERSTADT, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute

We have a bad news bias. Frequently, however, that creates an inaccurate picture of the world. In The American Dream Is Not Dead, Michael Strain shows that while there are very real challenges ahead of us as a country, Americans are living in the best, most prosperous time in our nations history. This book shows that hope and truth go together.

ARTHUR C. BROOKS, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School & Arthur C. Patterson Faculty Fellow, Harvard Business School

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS NOT DEAD

(But Populism Could Kill It)

Michael R. Strain

Templeton Press
300 Conshohocken State Road, Suite 500
West Conshohocken, PA 19428
www.templetonpress.org

2020 by Michael R. Strain

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020930637

ISBN: 978-1-59947-557-8 (paperback: alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-1-59947-558-5 (ebook)

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

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Printed in the United States of America.

For William and Rose

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