Nobody's Pulling Up Stakes Anymore
Optimist Economy
Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
4.9 • 829 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Americans used to move a lot in search of opportunity. But in 2024, the share of Americans who moved at all hit a 76-year low. Barely 2% of us moved across state lines. Some of that is by choice: people are more rooted, and that's not nothing. But when workers stop moving, rich cities pull further away from poor ones, wages stagnate, and the gaps between thriving labor markets and struggling ones get harder to close. And when there’s a shock to a local labor market, moving is an important release valve. Fixing a fraction of this worker mobility breakdown could improve the labor market for everyone.
Chapters:
00:00:33 Opening
00:01:45 Retcon: Trump Accounts & Career Pivots
00:07:27 Terms & Conditions: Spatial Equilibrium
00:09:55 Big Pilcrow: Does it Matter to the U.S. Economy if We Don’t Move from Place to Place?
00:39:10 Executive Orders: Frances Perkins miniseries; Sleep Shaming; Election Day Weekend
00:43:07 Spiritual Sponsors: The National Consumers League motto ("Investigate, Agitate, Legislate"); ACFC’s winning start
READ MORE:
The increasingly mobile US is a myth that needs to move on | Aeon Essays
Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home? | Pew Research Center
The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions
Population & Migration | Economic Research Service
Stranded! How Rising Inequality Suppressed US Migration and Hurt Those Left Behind
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- Email your economic questions, concerns, or executive orders to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Everybody has a hot take on the economy. |
| 0:03.9 | And whether you're curious about inflation, trade wars, or the markets, what you need is reporting you can trust. |
| 0:10.2 | Hi, I'm Kai Rizdahl, the host of Marketplace. |
| 0:12.7 | Our award-winning reporters talk to everybody from CEOs to farmers to help you understand how the economy takes shape in the real world. |
| 0:20.2 | You'll be smarter every time you listen. |
| 0:22.2 | And these days, that's priceless. |
| 0:24.2 | Listen to Marketplace on your favorite podcast app. |
| 0:30.2 | We pivoted to a growth industry podcasting. |
| 0:34.2 | Getting on the ground floor, but we did pivot. |
| 0:36.5 | You know what? |
| 0:37.0 | You can name your bookstore pivot, and I'm going to name my yoga studio pivot. |
| 0:47.7 | Hello, and welcome to Optimist Economy. I'm economist Catherine Ann Edwards. |
| 0:51.7 | I'm editor Robin Rousey. |
| 0:53.6 | And on this show, we believe the U.S. economy can be better, |
| 0:56.0 | and we talk about how to get there one problem and solution at a time. |
| 1:04.0 | Today on Optimist Economy, we're going to talk about moving, |
| 1:06.0 | and not just because both of us have moved in the last year or so, |
| 1:10.0 | but because I think it's really, |
| 1:12.3 | I think it's interesting and I think even more than a tax story, I like a demographics story. |
| 1:18.3 | Yes. |
| 1:19.8 | And, you know, they often don't pan out. People make a lot of guesses on demographic stories. |
| 1:24.9 | But I think they're fun. They're always like trying to figure out what's, |
... |
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