⤴ Inequality vs. pro-progress Up Wing economics

The reality of American inequality isn't what the worriers think it is

Quote of the Issue

“The huge amount of economic growth that we have experienced in the last 200 years is first and foremost the result of the fact that we know so much more than people did in 1500. … We understand physics better, we understand chemistry better, we understand biology better, and we manipulate this knowledge and harness it to our needs.” - Joel Mokyr

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I have a book out: The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised is currently available pretty much everywhere. I’m very excited about it! Let’s gooooo! ⏩🆙↗⤴📈

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The Essay

⤴ Inequality vs. pro-progress Up Wing economics

A frequent criticism of my brand of pro-growth, techno-optimist Up Wing economics is that it ignores inequality: Why boost productivity and economic growth if it only helps those already at the top? Why not focus on income and wealth redistribution rather than more lopsided income growth and wealth accumulation? After all, everyone knows Americans suffer from out-of-control economic inequality. The rich have been getting richer. Bupkis for the rest of us.

My baseline on the inequality issue is this:

First, what people really care about is a noticeable and continuous improvement in their financial circumstances, even if some people do better. For example: The 1990s in the United States were marked by significant economic growth and tech progress, boosting confidence in market capitalism. That, despite a concurrent rise in income inequality.

Second, history shows over and over that advancements initially exclusive to the wealthy — such as automobiles and cell phones — eventually become accessible to the broader population. This contradicts, for instance, what we see in Blade Runner, a film that presents a dystopian society — set in a world with advanced technology like AI and space colonies — where technological benefits are monopolized by a small elite, leaving most in dismal conditions, a concept I’ve termed the "Blade Runner Fallacy."

Third, we underestimate the value we get from billionaire entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Economist William Nordhaus has found that such innovators only capture a small fraction, 2.2 percent, of the social value created by their technological advances, with the majority of benefits going to consumers. Using this perspective, the immense wealth of innovator billionaires represents only a tiny portion of the much larger value they have added to society, suggesting their contributions far outweigh their personal fortunes.

Beyond my views is this reality: What seemingly everyone knows about extreme and exploding US inequality might be wrong! A few examples: