Why Economies Become Less Dynamic as They Age

The limits of the U.S. economy were shown in Covid-19. Analysts have struggled to explain why the U.S. has been unable to build new things. Lobbyists and interest groups slow everything down as economies get older, according to a book by the political economist. The Rise and Decline of Nations is being re-released this year. What went wrong with the U.S. economy is being debated.

The essay titled "It's Time to build" was published in April 2020. The US economy was slow and inflexible in the face of the crisis. America had long struggled to build housing, high-speed rail, and zero-emission sources of power, as well as lack of masks and ventilators. Many scholars and commentators had been saying that, and it had fans on the political side. We had less agreement on how we got here. Was it a symptom of a bigger problem? Political institutions are broken. There is too much regulation. People couldn't agree on why the U.S. had lost some of its power.