Edward Conard: Economic Growth, Innovation, and Middle-Class Prosperity

Conversations with Bill Kristol

News, Society & Culture, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2019

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On how we can sustain economic growth, spur innovation, improve productivity, and ensure greater prosperity for the middle class. In this Conversation, businessman and best-selling author Edward Conard shares his perspective on how America can achieve these objectives. Conard counters the commonplace view, today, that the American middle class has been hollowed out and that economic mobility has stagnated. While recognizing a slowdown in productivity and growth in recent years, Conard considers the overall strength and diversity of the American economy, and the relative growth in middle-class incomes in America compared to peer groups in Europe as well as Japan. According to Conard, we must prioritize innovation and growth in order to meet today’s challenges—and he cites America’s opportunity to increase high-skilled immigration as the single best way to jumpstart innovation and productivity now and in the years to come.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the Hi, I'm Bill Crystal. Welcome to Conversations. I'm very pleased to be joined today once again by Ed
0:20.0	Conard, scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, author of the best-selling book,
0:25.0	The Upside of Inequality, controversial book when I came out, I remember, what was that, about five, six...
0:30.0	You loved that, a couple years ago. Yeah.
0:33.0	And very successful businessman at Bay and Capital and knows a lot about business and I always learned from you because you actually
0:40.9	started businesses and raised capital and didn't just study it take
0:44.8	economics courses about it so I always think you bring an excellent perspective for
0:48.9	that and other reasons I think the subtitle of your book the upside of
0:52.4	inequality was what?
0:54.0	How good intentions undermine the middle class.
0:56.0	So let's begin with the middle class because one thing you want to struck by, we're speaking
1:00.0	in what, the beginning of May 2019, everyone thinks the middle class has suffered terribly.
1:04.4	That sort of Donald Trump says so.
1:06.3	It's carnage in America.
1:07.4	Bernie Sanders says so.
1:08.6	Even the kind of mainstream types of the parties are very concerned about it.
1:12.2	I'm sure. What's what's the story
1:14.6	about that what's the truth what's the truth about the American middle class?
1:17.4	Maybe there's some political advantage to to making that argument but if you look at the
1:20.3	congressional budget office who does a pretty careful tracking of this and
1:23.8	they've grown more sophisticated over time.
1:26.7	They now can adjust for how much taxes are paid, how much government benefits are received,
	...

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