The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World

by Samuel Gregg

Americans across the political spectrum have turned away from free market capitalism, calling for more government intervention into the economy. This optimistic book explains how a dynamic, Commercial Republic that benefits all Americans is still possible.

"Will someone intent on changing the direction of America’s economy seize on this text and send it far and wide?”
—Hugh Hewitt, author, attorney, and national host of The Hugh Hewitt Show

“Markets grounded in a commercial republic are what America needs. Gregg shows why.” 
—Vernon L. Smith, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor of Business Economics and Law at Chapman University

One of America’s greatest success stories is its economy. For over a century, it has been the envy of the world. The opportunity it generates has inspired millions of people to want to become American.

Today, however, America’s economy is at a crossroads. Many have lost confidence in the country’s commitment to economic liberty. Across the political spectrum, many want the government to play an even greater role in the economy via protectionism, industrial policy, stakeholder capitalism, or even quasi-socialist policies. Numerous American political and business leaders are embracing these ideas, and traditional defenders of markets have struggled to respond to these challenges in fresh ways. Then there is a resurgent China bent on eclipsing the United States’s place in the world. At stake is not only the future of the world’s biggest economy, but the economic liberty that remains central to America’s identity as a nation.

But managed decline and creeping statism do not have to be America’s only choices, let alone its destiny. For this book insists that there is an alternative. And that is a vibrant market economy grounded on entrepreneurship, competition, and trade openness, but embedded in what America’s founding generation envisaged as the United States’s a dynamic Commercial Republic that takes freedom, commerce, and the common good of all Americans seriously, and allows America as a sovereign-nation to pursue and defend its interests in a dangerous world without compromising its belief in the power of economic freedom.

Genres: Economics

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 18, 2022

About the author

Dr. Samuel Gregg has a D.Phil. in moral philosophy and political economy from Oxford University, and an M.A. in political philosophy from the University of Melbourne.

He has written and spoken extensively on questions of political economy, economic history, monetary theory and policy, and natural law theory.

In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Member of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 2004. In 2008, he was elected a member of the Philadelphia Society, and a member of the Royal Economic Society. In 2017, he was made a Fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He served as President of the Philadelphia Society from 2019-2021.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Vance Ginn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book by Samuel Gregg that highlights the classical liberal development in the founding of the idea of America. The book is rich with background, history, and research that provides a timeless book to help us understand the past so we can better deal with the future. I highly recommend reading this book. Listen to my interview with Samuel on my Let People Prosper podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

[Corrinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, mostly because I just don’t find economics interesting, even when I mostly agree with the arguments. Read for TPIF retreat. Denser than expected, although I appreciated the connections to modern problems. I do still feel like those arguing in favor of free markets focus only on the consumer and the business, but not the work—and everyone must work in order to be a consumer and keep the market going.

[Gabriella Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book for this time we’re in. It’s an impassioned defense of free enterprise that makes the case for classical liberalism over corporatism, central-planning, and industrial policy.

[Kent Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is misleading. The book is more of a history of the American economy.

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregg is a scholar in Washington who has a keen ability to explain the fine points of Adam Smith, Hume, Burke and the Founders and to interpret why the US was not formed as a democracy. Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations to raise questions about the Mercantilist regime - crony capitalism of his era - in Britain at the time.

Gregg argues that industrial policy, stakeholder capitalism and protectionism are all just new forms of a mercantilist regime. While he is not a strict free market person he makes a strong case the the externalities of those forms of fashion all lead to tremendous opportunities for rent seeking.

If you have not read Smith - or if you want a very modern set of arguments about the best forms of market organization - I highly recommend this book.

[Chas Steinbrugge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work justifying deregulation and free trade. In particular, like the concept of describing tariffs as an active minority taking advantage of a passive majority. I think the book could have been written in a more organized and straightforward way to communicate the same ideas in a way that is easier to read. There were lots of French sayings for example that I had to lookup.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general agreement with the arguments, but should probably just read Adam Smith.

[Taylor Barkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted this to be 5 stars, with new arguments and data. It was mostly what I’ve heard before. But if you’re not fully immersed in the world Gregg is writing from it will likely provide new info.