Jump-Starting America: Reviving the American Dream

America’s post-war history offers a blueprint for a more equitable economic future, argue MIT economists Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson. Starting in 1940, unprecedented public investment allowed for breakthroughs in science and technology. Advancements such as radar, digital computers, jet engines, and eventually the internet, enabled America to achieve economic supremacy, and were themselves catalysts for even greater economic growth. Yet in recent decades innovation has tended to reinforce inequality and concentrate wealth in a few coastal enclaves. How can America recreate an economy where the benefits of growth are shared more widely? And will technology help or hinder this process?

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