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January 6, 2026
The Middle Class Is Shrinking Because of a Booming Upper-Middle Class
Abstract Populists on both the political left and right routinely claim that the middle class has been hollowed out. These claims, to the extent they are based on evidence, rely on a relative definition of the middle class, such that if income doubles for every family, the middle class does not grow. Using an absolute…
November 30, 2025
Our Economy Is Not Stagnant
Both sides of the political aisle are misleadingly bleak about the state of the American worker. A national Pew survey conducted in April of this year found that 56 percent of Americans believe that “life in America today” is worse than it was “50 years ago for people like you.” In a separate April survey, the exact same…