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Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth―and What to Do About It
Not yet published
Expected 16 Jun 26288 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 16, 2026
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About the author
Samuel Moyn
37 books124 followersSamuel Moyn is professor of law and history at Harvard University. He is the author of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, and Christian Human Rights (2015), among other books, as well as editor of the journal Humanity. He also writes regularly for Foreign Affairs and The Nation.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
As life expectancy increases and the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, it feels like the population of many countries is part of a giant experiment.
Retirement is one of the great innovations of the XXth century. Nobody should have to work until they die, especially in a society that benefits from abundance. Scientific progress completely transformed our lives, including how long we live. This is not an entirely good thing.
Samuel Moyn dives into the history of aging in Western societies, starting from antiquity. His work is extremely documented. The result is a very academic book, which will delight readers interested in hard data and raw facts. Sometimes, reading him feels very harsh. Samuel Moyn does not dwell on the usual arguments (mostly emotional). He constantly connects the demographic facts (centered on the US) with potential solutions. His main preoccupation is to mitigate the concentration of weath and power into the hands of people who reached retirement age.
This book will probably lead to infuriated articles in the press. By definition, people do not like hearing that they are privileged (even when it is true) and try to rationalise their position. The real estate situation is especially worrying, with elder citizens living alone in large houses purchasee decades ago, and families of four piling up in small apartments. I am an engineer in my thirties, married to another engineer, both working full time jobs with lots of responsibilities. Our standard of living is lower to the one of my in-laws - none of them studied beyond high school and my mother-in-law worked part time. One of the reasons is housing costs.
Greying voters are massively defending their interests, even if it means that their children will never be able to buy a home or their grandchildren end up in underfunded schools. I was depressed to read the facts confirming what has been happening before my eyes. I am baffled to witness a whole generation doing away with the future. Reforms could mitigate those effects. Sadly, it is unlikely that a majority of voters (again, because of demography) will support such a change. Just like the aging tenured academics gatekeeping access to stable positions for the younger generation, I do not see baby boomers applauding measures that deprive them of power. Generational fairness is out of reach, because the people with the weath and power are the ones benefitting from the imbalance.
Overall, this was an excellent book that provided me with valuable sources. I am sure the people with the power to fix the situation will brush it off with disdain, though.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC. Thank you Samuel Moyn for this book.
Retirement is one of the great innovations of the XXth century. Nobody should have to work until they die, especially in a society that benefits from abundance. Scientific progress completely transformed our lives, including how long we live. This is not an entirely good thing.
Samuel Moyn dives into the history of aging in Western societies, starting from antiquity. His work is extremely documented. The result is a very academic book, which will delight readers interested in hard data and raw facts. Sometimes, reading him feels very harsh. Samuel Moyn does not dwell on the usual arguments (mostly emotional). He constantly connects the demographic facts (centered on the US) with potential solutions. His main preoccupation is to mitigate the concentration of weath and power into the hands of people who reached retirement age.
This book will probably lead to infuriated articles in the press. By definition, people do not like hearing that they are privileged (even when it is true) and try to rationalise their position. The real estate situation is especially worrying, with elder citizens living alone in large houses purchasee decades ago, and families of four piling up in small apartments. I am an engineer in my thirties, married to another engineer, both working full time jobs with lots of responsibilities. Our standard of living is lower to the one of my in-laws - none of them studied beyond high school and my mother-in-law worked part time. One of the reasons is housing costs.
Greying voters are massively defending their interests, even if it means that their children will never be able to buy a home or their grandchildren end up in underfunded schools. I was depressed to read the facts confirming what has been happening before my eyes. I am baffled to witness a whole generation doing away with the future. Reforms could mitigate those effects. Sadly, it is unlikely that a majority of voters (again, because of demography) will support such a change. Just like the aging tenured academics gatekeeping access to stable positions for the younger generation, I do not see baby boomers applauding measures that deprive them of power. Generational fairness is out of reach, because the people with the weath and power are the ones benefitting from the imbalance.
Overall, this was an excellent book that provided me with valuable sources. I am sure the people with the power to fix the situation will brush it off with disdain, though.
Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC. Thank you Samuel Moyn for this book.
December 7, 2025
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the Advance Reading Copy.
This book explores the role of older adults as an oligarchy that stymies political, economic, academic and workplace mobility and progress. It's a timely topic; I can still remember the sinking feeling of watching the infamous Biden/Trump Presidential debate in 2024 and seeing the harsh reality of President Biden's cognitive decline in real time. Moyn illustrates how older Americans and their interest groups have had the effect of perpetuating the affordability crisis and stagnation in our financial and workplace realms. As a volunteer in local MA politics, the sections describing older Americans' overrepresentation in elected office and interest group dynamics rang true. I agree that "the more boring the election, the more likely it is to turn out only older voters" interested in protecting their home value (and leading to anti-growth NIMBYism) and preventing new taxes. This becomes especially dangerous and anti-small-d-democratic in local politics, "where land use decisions are shaped by political objections."
I found Moyn's exploration of AARP particularly enlightening, especially as I look forward to AARP eligibility in less than 90 days (gulp). Did you know one in ten Americans are AARP members? This most powerful of lobbies is primarily a "market maker" for insurance and travel services, but wields unreasonable power, particularly in our sclerotic Congress (itself an extreme gerontocracy).
The book also describes how the older adult oligarchy prevents dynamism in the corporate and academic realms, and in personal investments. While Moyn's prescriptions for age limits, youth quotas, and Scandinavian-style social aging communities are big lifts in our current fiscal and political environment, this book is worthwhile for anyone interested in understanding how generational divides occur and persist to our political and economic detriment.
This book explores the role of older adults as an oligarchy that stymies political, economic, academic and workplace mobility and progress. It's a timely topic; I can still remember the sinking feeling of watching the infamous Biden/Trump Presidential debate in 2024 and seeing the harsh reality of President Biden's cognitive decline in real time. Moyn illustrates how older Americans and their interest groups have had the effect of perpetuating the affordability crisis and stagnation in our financial and workplace realms. As a volunteer in local MA politics, the sections describing older Americans' overrepresentation in elected office and interest group dynamics rang true. I agree that "the more boring the election, the more likely it is to turn out only older voters" interested in protecting their home value (and leading to anti-growth NIMBYism) and preventing new taxes. This becomes especially dangerous and anti-small-d-democratic in local politics, "where land use decisions are shaped by political objections."
I found Moyn's exploration of AARP particularly enlightening, especially as I look forward to AARP eligibility in less than 90 days (gulp). Did you know one in ten Americans are AARP members? This most powerful of lobbies is primarily a "market maker" for insurance and travel services, but wields unreasonable power, particularly in our sclerotic Congress (itself an extreme gerontocracy).
The book also describes how the older adult oligarchy prevents dynamism in the corporate and academic realms, and in personal investments. While Moyn's prescriptions for age limits, youth quotas, and Scandinavian-style social aging communities are big lifts in our current fiscal and political environment, this book is worthwhile for anyone interested in understanding how generational divides occur and persist to our political and economic detriment.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews