68 pages • 2-hour read
Abundance
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Themes
The Impact of Regulatory Environments on Innovation and Progress
Regulatory environments are something that Klein and Thompson take a close look at in Abundance. Klein and Thompson advocate strongly for American innovation, as they believe the only way to ensure an abundant and utopian future for the US is to support the invention and implementation of new technology. However, they argue that the regulatory bodies of the US government often cause more harm than good, impeding the innovation process. Klein and Thompson offer ample examples of how regulation can stifle innovation, including the impact of negotiation, especially in the context of legislative negotiation. One example is the continuing unsuccessful attempt to implement high-speed rail systems in California. Klein and Thompson state directly that
what has taken so long on high-speed rail is not hammering nails or pouring concrete. It’s negotiating. Negotiating with courts, with funders, with business owners, with homeowners, with farm owners. Those negotiations cost time, which costs money (76).
The conversations surrounding high-speed rail stymied the process of building it, as all the conversations with various aspects of the political community cost time and money. As projects become more expensive, they become more difficult to implement, illustrating how negotiation can block innovation.
Regulatory environments have positives, though, as Klein and Thompson do not seek to eliminate oversight and understand that there are reasons that rules and regulations are in place, especially in construction. Though the rebuilding of the I-95 bridge was a triumph because Governor Shapiro circumvented construction regulations, Klein and Thompson “No-bid contracts can enable corruption as well as speed. There are reasons not to put down asphalt when it’s raining” (126). There are obvious reasons that regulatory environments exist because, without governmental oversight, companies can cut corners or become corrupt, putting consumers at risk. However, even as Klein and Thompson highlight the importance of some level of regulation, they continue to illustrate how adherence to a culture of excessive regulation can halt innovation and progress. They write, “We prefer that projects go badly by the book. We minimize some risks but make delay and high costs routine” (126). In keeping an enduring attachment to regulatory rules, the government avoids risk, but some risk-aversion goes too far.
Klein and Thompson argue that the scientific establishment in the US, like the regulatory establishment, is too risk-averse. They utilize the example of Katalin Karikó and her mRNA research, which the government ignored and unfunded for decades before the COVID-19 pandemic. Klein and Thompson highlight the issue they dub “the Karikó problem,” writing, “In 2023, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who struggled for years to get a dollar of funding from the NIH, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for a technology that saved millions of lives” (140). The NIH failed to fund Karikó for years because of the novelty of her ideas, as they deemed her ideas too risky. When the government turns away from new ideas, risky though they may be, Klein and Thompson argue it puts the future of innovation in jeopardy, like a surplus of regulations can halt the construction of important new projects.
The Role of Government in Fostering a Culture of Abundance
Abundance is central to Klein and Thompson’s thesis. It is not simply the abundance of everything that Klein and Thompson advocate for. For example, Klein and Thompson illustrate that consumerism plays a negative role in fostering real abundance, writing, “An abundance of consumer goods distracted us from a scarcity of homes and energy and infrastructure and scientific breakthroughs” (5). Material goods are not an example of real abundance, as owning a flatscreen TV will not help with the housing or climate change crises. The government needs to create real abundance through political policy by identifying the problems plaguing society and seeking to solve them. Political problems, Klein and Thompson assert, are “not just about the problems we have. It’s about the problems we see. The supply problem has lurked for years, but it has not been the core of our politics…A new theory of supply is emerging—and with it, a new way of thinking about politics, economics, and growth” (11). Klein and Thompson describe the “supply problem,” the lack of abundant resources due to political and economic instability, as a new focus for politics, and the “new way of thinking” they describe is centered on abundance (11).
Klein and Thompson highlight both the housing crisis and the climate change crisis as problems that require a reframing with the ideas of abundance. An option for remedying the climate change crisis is the idea of degrowth, which calls for the cessation of detrimental types of production. However, degrowth can also reach into the realm of the housing crisis, as it can contribute to selfish housing policies that seek to keep affordable housing buildings out of certain communities. As Klein and Thompson note, “Anti-growth politics could, and often did, tip into a kind of misanthropy aimed at newcomers. Those who already lived in a place were its stewards, its guardians, its voice. Those who wanted to move to that place were recast as a consumptive horde” (55). The language Klein and Thompson utilize illustrates the severity of the divisiveness of the housing issue, illustrating how scarcity can pull communities apart. There is a similar divisiveness in climate change, as many resist climate change measures, especially through the lens of scarcity. Rationing energy is contentious, and Klein and Thompson note that “turning global politics into a zero-sum contest for allotted energy rations will not deliver a greener future” (62). In highlighting the failures of scarcity, Klein and Thompson advocate for abundance, calling upon the American government to create abundant green energy and houses to solve the issues they explore.
The Intersection of Policy and Technology in Shaping the Future
Technology and policy are two of the most important concepts throughout Abundance. Klein and Thompson advocate for the use of government policy for the implementation of new technology frequently in the book, as they highlight the government’s role in implementing technology. Klein and Thompson evaluate the dichotomy between invention and implementation. Klein and Thompson note invention’s role in the “eureka myth,” as American society lauds the mythos of invention without recognizing or appreciating the process of implementation. Klein and Thompson introduce “Wright’s law,” which “runs counter to the eureka myth. It says that innovation is not a two-stage process, where a lone genius conceives of a brilliant idea and then a bunch of thoughtless brutes manufacture it. Innovation is enmeshed in the act of making” (180). Innovation and implementation go together, and implementation often requires the use of public policy. The government, Klein and Thompson assert, plays an integral role in the implementation of innovative technology. They personify the government, stating that the government’s role is integral, writing, “It is a vision of a new kind of entrepreneurial state. It is the government as a bottleneck detective” (189). The government served as a “bottleneck detective” during the implementation of penicillin and the COVID-19 vaccine, helping turn the crucial inventions into usable medical technologies efficiently.
Klein and Thompson further explore the intersections between policy and technology by discussing legislation and the tendency of the government to overstuff legislative bills. They offer the example of one of President Biden’s bills that attempted to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, as Taiwan is currently the hub of semiconductor manufacturing. Though the bill was well-intentioned, they argue it featured too many add-ons that were unrelated to semiconductors. Klein and Thompson highlight this issue with a comparison between the US and Taiwan, writing, “But do Taiwanese semiconductor firms really know how to expand the role of women in the construction industry? How good will they be, really, at diversifying supply chains? These are all worthwhile goals. But there is some margin at which trying to do more means ultimately achieving less” (116). Taiwan did not pass legislation about semiconductors that also contained legislation about gender equality and supply chain diversification, instead focusing on the manufacturing only. The American government has struggled to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US because of a lack of focus in the legislation. By trying to do more, Klein and Thompson show, the government did less. This example, among others, illustrates the necessity of crafting focused and salient policy to help with the implementation of technology.
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