Abundance

Abundance (2025) is a political and economic nonfiction book by American journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book stems from a 2021 essay by Klein originally published in The New York Times and a 2022 essay by Thompson originally published in The Atlantic. Klein is a columnist for The New York Times, co-founder of Vox, the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast, and the author of the political nonfiction book Why We’re Polarized (2020). Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, the host of the Plain English podcast, and the author of the psychology nonfiction book Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction (2017) and the philosophical essay collection On Work: Money, Meaning, and Identity (2023). Klein and Thompson co-wrote Abundance collaboratively, pulling from their respective strengths (political analysis for Klein, economic analysis for Thompson). The work seeks to create a new liberal political lens through which to view the world that is grounded in abundance instead of scarcity and an optimistic vision for the future. Abundance explores The Impact of Regulatory Environments on Innovation and Progress, The Role of Government in Fostering a Culture of Abundance, and The Intersection of Policy and Technology in Shaping the Future.

This guide refers to the 2025 Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster edition of Abundance.

Summary

Klein and Thompson begin Abundance with an introduction titled “Beyond Scarcity,” discussing the key ideas they will explore throughout the book. They provide economic background about the impact of supply-side economics, which is the “economic mistake” Klein referenced in his 2021 essay, while advocating for a demand-oriented economic approach. They also explore the possibility for economic growth and technological development in the United States by shifting the focus of American politics from scarcity to abundance. Instead of focusing on the past, Klein and Thompson encourage Americans to look to the possibility of a brighter future, a future made possible by the reconstruction of systems in the US that create manufactured scarcities.

Chapter 1, titled “Grow,” explores how the cost-of-living crisis and scarcity of affordable housing impact the US. Klein and Thompson examine the importance of cities as centers of innovation and upward mobility, even as cities become prohibitively expensive to live in. Zoning laws have also contributed to the housing scarcity, as have rules and regulations that previously sought to protect the environment but now block the creation of affordably-built housing. To address the complex homelessness crisis that faces liberal states, especially California, Klein and Thompson propose a reevaluation of the policy choices that limit housing growth.

Chapter 2, titled “Build,” investigates the importance of green energy in the fight against climate change. Klein and Thompson examine the concept of “degrowth,” which centers a holistic view of the world that values human life over growth and production, seeking to disrupt the detrimental systems of production globally. Klein and Thompson highlight the significance of building green energy infrastructure in the US. Klein and Thompson criticize the blockages the government faces in trying to implement climate-friendly energy technology that stem from an overabundance of regulations. The government attempts to find legitimacy from adherence to these rules, but Klein and Thompson assert the government can find legitimacy from outcomes instead. A change in political culture is necessary to both create this legitimacy and to successfully build green infrastructure.

Chapter 3, titled “Govern,” inspects the stipulations of federal funding that can lead to the failure to successfully utilize government subsidies. Klein and Thompson connect the issues surrounding federal funding to the housing crisis. When governments, particularly liberal governments, attempt to fund affordable housing to ameliorate the homelessness crisis, the funds are so difficult to access and utilize due to extensive rules and regulations that dictate how the money can be used. Klein and Thompson also investigate the liberal tendency to attempt too many goals in a single project, like the Biden administration’s legislative attempts to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US while also seeking to address issues around gender equality and supply chain efficiency. Klein and Thompson advocate for a government that accomplishes its goals, using the example of the I-95 bridge collapse in Philadelphia and subsequent rebuild as an exemplar of governmental efficiency.

Chapter 4, titled “Invent,” begins with the story of Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian scientist who revolutionized the study of mRNA, the medical therapy that was utilized to make the COVID-19 vaccine. Karikó was pushed out of the scientific field because of the novelty and riskiness of her ideas, but her work laid the foundation for the lifesaving vaccine. Klein and Thompson assess the state of scientific innovation in the US, explaining the excessive amount of paperwork and grant applications that scientists are buried beneath, which limits their ability to innovate. Klein and Thompson further evaluate the “scientific slowdown,” the decrease in scientific breakthroughs due to too much administrative work, and the truism that the unsolved scientific problems are harder to solve than the solved ones. Klein and Thompson assert that the science system in the US needs an overhaul; more funding for younger scientists is necessary, as is a reduction in administrative minutia and an increase in work visa capacities. Klein and Thompson also evaluate the history of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its role in the American medical science field, illustrating the triumphs and shortcomings of American science at large.

Chapter 5, titled “Deploy,” discusses both invention and implementation, specifically through the lens of the discovery of penicillin. The invention of penicillin was what Klein and Thompson call a “eureka moment,” a spontaneous discovery that pushed science forward. However, what Klein and Thompson focus on is the implementation of penicillin as a medicinal, antibacterial therapy. The process was long and required the intervention of the American government, like Operation Warp Speed (OWS), which was the government initiative that helped with the invention and implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine. Klein and Thompson establish the government’s role in pushing through obstacles to innovation and implementation and encourage the government to push forward innovation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which they believe could be the most important technological field of the decade.

In the conclusion, titled “Toward Abundance,” Klein and Thompson discuss that the US is in a time of political turmoil, a moment between two political orders with an uncertain future. The US has the opportunity to shift away from a political world view fixated on scarcity and toward one focused on abundance. Klein and Thompson express their desire to craft a new lens through which to view the world, creating a new kind of liberalism centered on abundance.