The Long 20th Century: Material Progress, Rising Inequality, and the Elusive Utopia

Episode Details

The 20^th century was defined in large part by the conflicts between free market-oriented ideas, and policies favoring government intervention to soften the effects of unbridled markets. It was also defined by broad increases in quality of life. Yet, even as material progress of the last 150 years greatly exceeded that of the previous thousands of years, it hasn’t led to the utopia that people in earlier, more materially dire periods, believed would come about. Drawing on his new book Slouching Towards Utopia, J. Bradford DeLong joins EconoFact Chats to discuss why.

Brad is a Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy from 1993 to 1995. Slouching Towards Utopia, was named one of the best business books of 2022 by The Financial Times.