2026-01-02
32 分钟The Economist.
Welcome to 2026, a year in which we'll be celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
We've got some special podcast episodes planned around that for later in the year,
but to start the new year off,
we thought we'd look at perhaps the most fundamental American idea of all,
and whether it’s still true.
Early European visitors to America were really struck
by how radical the country was as a social experiment,
in particular the idea that you could have a society without an aristocracy.
In America, people were free to rise and fall with their talents,
unlike in Britain or in France,
where social position was something you were born into.
As America has reached middle age, it’s become less exceptional in this way.
In fact, America has started to resemble pre-revolutionary France in some ways.
France has never elected a president who inherited as much money as Donald Trump did,
and his sons are busy using their positions as dauphins to enrich themselves.
Raj Chetty is particularly well qualified to talk about how American America is in 2026.
He is a Harvard economist with a glittering resume.
If there were a faculty of social mobility studies, then he would be its dean.
We cite his work pretty often here at The Economist.