American Political Economy Lecture

How Americans Became Investors

In 2021, Americans experienced a 30 percent increase in the value of their homes.  Older citizens saw their 401(k) retirement account balances rise by an average of 20 percent while younger ones experienced a 33 percent hike. Incomes during this same period increased by 11 percent. That Americans’ economic prospects appeared increasingly unmoored from their jobs and incomes and tied more closely to their asset returns is rather new. It represents a notable departure from postwar political and economic arrangements that were predicated upon consumption based on a wage growth. In this talk, Chloe Thurston describes the causes and consequences of the rise of mass investment in the United States and its relationship to political party building and political culture from the mid-1960s through today’s debates about cryptocurrency.