Other studies indicate that the most common reasons for not having children are economic. On the matter of the former, he notes academic research that suggests the gap between the number of children Americans want to have and the number that they do have has grown to its widest point in 40 years. Major population growth requires both a higher fertility rate and a more permissive approach to immigration. It is a plea to expand the range of policy solutions. Yglesias’s desire to think bigger, as per his subtitle, is not just about a more populous country. would require major reform in areas where failure has become normalized: immigration, housing, education, healthcare. Such protestations play into his hands, because the argument he makes in the new book One Billion Americans is less about international supremacy than about overcoming inertia in domestic policy. Yglesias knows this proposal, which he admits “sounds a little loopy,” will raise objections from the Left ( It will accelerate climate change! What about our schools?) and the Right ( America is already full!).

The United States, he argues, should strive to triple its population. But because China won’t become smaller unless it suffers “some horrendous misfortune” or its government makes “some tragic miscalculation,” the U.S. on a per-person basis, its economy would be much larger. If China becomes half as rich as the U.S. has 330 million people China has 1.4 billion.

He thinks the Sino–American battle for supremacy is essentially a numbers game. Journalist Matthew Yglesias, cofounder of the news site Vox, favors a different approach. Most recently, President Donald Trump has been content to treat China as an economic rival and has tried to hobble its growth.

Accepting that China was showing little inclination to do so, the Obama administration then sought to strengthen the U.S.’s relations with other Asian powers. The Clinton administration thought that ushering China into the World Trade Organization would force its government to work within an economic system designed by the United States. should respond to China’s growing economic clout has occupied policymakers for decades. Illustration by Orbon Alija One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger

Matthew yglesias book