I’ve recently stepped back from all social media, and as part of that, I’ve started to seek out and read the actual books written by the famous people I follow. For all that I value their thoughts, I’ve come to believe that the most value can be had by reading those thoughts they’ve collected, researched, and actually put time into a coherent argument.

My first stop was Matt Yglesias’ One Billion Americans, and what a delight it was. Matt is laying out some pretty complicated economic arguments in a way that made sense. His general theories are ones I already believe (I’m also a pretty committed progressive), but he also forward some ideas I hadn’t considered.

In particular, I am ALL IN on a congestion tax now that’s pointed out how that tax alone could make public transportation better. No need to even use that tax to fund public transportation!

While I don’t necessarily agree with all of his ideas (I felt like he was, occasionally, being a bit handwavey about global warming), it is a proposal that makes me want to dream bigger for the country and the world. If we want to build that Star Trek Utopia, we’re gonna have to start dreaming for the metaphorical stars, after all!

It ties in with his friend Ezra Klein’s recent article on “A Liberalism that Builds”. It’s part of my step back from social media and living just in online spaces where words are the ONLY thing that matter. Let’s get out into the real world and be ambitious!

He told me what I wanted to hear, but he didn’t say it very well.

Fans of Vox Media likely know Matt Yglesias. He's snarky, sometimes contrarian, and always smart. He's more likely to get into the details of a policy debate than to contemplate abstract theory (and is not coincidentally cohost of a podcast called "The Weeds"). As such, "One Billion Americans" comes as a bit of a departure. This is an ambitious book. While Yglesias gets into the policy details, ultimately this is a political manifesto for progressives that promises to address everything from our crumbling infrastructure to the rise of China.

The core of Yglesias' argument is quite simple. Larger countries have a variety of advantages, including larger domestic markets, deeper talent pools, and greater military reach. He contends that our country, already a superpower, has benefitted from having a relatively large population and would be better off if we had even more people. Moreover, he argues that we could do this quite easily by lowering barriers to legal immigration and implementing pro-family policies to reduce the cost of having children.

Yglesias frames the book in no small part as a response to the rise of China, as well as India. He's absolutely correct to point out that the foreign policy establishment has been warning about China for years, and yet hasn't proposed a response commensurate to the scale of the challenge. If nothing else, Yglesias' "One Billion Americans" proposes a vision for America that could potentially revolutionize rejuvenate our country.

Yglesias spends most of the book explaining the benefits of a larger population and addressing seemingly any and all possible objections. I appreciate the effort, but think he's only partly successful here. He understates the drawbacks of a drastically larger population. This is partly because at some points he seems to conflate indivisible public goods with divisible individual goods. He compares a several thousand dollar subsidy to families with children to something like a library. However, the marginal cost of an additional person using a library is practically zero, whereas the marginal cost of an additional person on a social welfare program is the amount that they receive - which is not trivial. Each additional person costs more.

In addition, Yglesias' pronouncements in favor of immigration are a bit too sweeping. Overall, the evidence is clear that immigration benefits America and has a positive effect on taxes, employment, etc. But, that's partly because the benefits from a smaller number of highly skilled immigrants outweighs the net costs (such as Social Security and Medicaid benefits) of supporting lower skilled immigrants. Yglesias tries to partially address this by proposing talent visas, which is a good start, but probably wouldn't do enough to address some of the distributional concerns - to say nothing of the inevitable political and social backlash to more immigration.

Ultimately, Yglesias' proposal rests far too much on political willpower. He repeatedly dismisses objections to his proposal by saying that we shouldn't let our dysfunctional politics limit our vision. I admire this attitude, but it doesn't solve the problem. As I'm sure Yglesias knows, if law-making were rational, our policies would look very different. Perhaps we could build more infrastructure to accommodate more people - but isn't it just as likely that we'd have more people and more political gridlock preventing more infrastructure? I wish Yglesias had spent a bit more time explaining how the politics would realistically get from our polarized present to one billion Americans.

Some readers might also take issue with Yglesias' distractingly informal writing style. The book is written in the style of a podcast. It's one thing to avoid stuffy jargon or dry academic writing, but repeatedly using the word "silly" to describe counterarguments seems, well, silly.

Despite my criticisms, the sheer ambition of "One Billion Americans" overwhelms any quibbles. This book asks important questions about our policies and our values. Although it isn't quite utopian, "One Billion Americans" presents a progressive vision of our future that - if Yglesias is correct - could help us overcome several of our most pressing challenges.

The book forced me to reevaluate some of my skepticism of progressive family leave and education policies. I don't know if I'd vote for "One Billion Americans" if it were on the ballot tomorrow, but I hope politicians and policymakers take Yglesias' arguments series. If this book prompts us to start thinking big again, it will have been a valuable contribution.

[Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review]

This book really makes an interesting case for tripling the US population. I would have thought that we wanted to go the reverse but there are a lot of good reasons to go on the increase. Interesting. I really like well-articulated and deeply considered plans that are new ideas to me.

One of my favorite writers and commentators laying out many of his best ideas. America has long been bigger than other rich powers and richer than other big powers, but that won't be true soon. Let's keep brain draining the best and brightest here - and making it easier for Americans to have more kids. Population is power and we should be recognizing that- as our past leaders have almost always recognized.

I enjoy Matt’s writing and insight, but this left me slightly underwhelmed. It’s a hodgepodge of policy prescriptions tied together by an argument for American greatness that seems more attuned to convincing conservatives to increase immigration and expand the welfare state.

I hope it’s successful in that regard, but the book’s rapid-fire pace made me wish Matt had taken more time or done a deep dive into immigration, urban or natalist policies with some original reporting (and the last may have been the most valuable as the first two have received a lot of attention).

What we end up with isn’t bad, but it feels superficial and at times underbaked.