BOOK REVIEW:
‘Abundance’
By Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
By Matthew Fleming | July 25, 2025
“Abundance,” a new book by liberal thought leaders Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, makes the case that a sustainable future doesn’t need to be driven by the politics of scarcity we see dominating America’s urban centers. Instead, they argue, America can have more of the essentials: more housing, more water, more energy, more medicines and more innovative breakthroughs in technology.
“Abundance” is well-researched and well-reasoned, making it a must-read for policy nerds looking for background on the neglect and rot that made a future in California seem so impossible. Unfortunately, its authors are blinded by their own progressive fantasies and never fully arrive at the conclusion made obvious by their research: that government is generally the problem, making the private sector the solution.
It’s ironic that years after writing in The New York Times that “California is Making Liberals Squirm,” Klein is still unable to see the forest for the trees. Too often, Klein and Thompson call on the government to continue to assert itself in ways it is either unable to, or unfit to be, effective.
Take California’s high speed rail project, for example. The project is severely over budget, behind schedule and there does not appear to be any end in sight. It’s a monumental failure in urban planning and has been forced to scale back to a totally undesirable route connecting Merced to Bakersfield.
As Klein and Thompson point out, the project has suffered from challenges in land acquisition (oops), regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles, wasteful and ineffective contracts, and so much more.
But instead of seeing widespread government failure, Klein and Thompson see the need for more government. They suggest cutting back on outsourcing by hiring more full-time government staffers (minimizing the costs and public sector union issues this would create) and building things better and faster. Never mind the fact that the government doesn’t build things faster and better.
“Abundance” dissects the issues with California’s Employment Development Department, which had a total meltdown during COVID trying to process unemployment claims. The issues were straightforward, yet insurmountable, including outdated and mismatched technology, delays in securing a contractor to update the system and political pressure from the Legislature.
This wasn’t even the first time—a similar failure occurred in 2013. It’s not even the only department in California—the home of Silicon Valley—unable to implement IT programs. The secretary of state has been “updating” Cal-Access for a decade. A state accounting system, Fi$Cal, was a mess for decades, as was Covered California. Klein and Thompson struggle to see the common denominator here: the government.
Klein and Thompson also turn to Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s program to create a COVID vaccine and immunize the public. While they rightfully point out that the government had a significant role in distributing the vaccine to private-sector partners, they overstate the government’s role in creating the vaccine and fail to make a case for the government’s involvement at all.
Sure, the government subsidized a great deal of the program, and waived many of its own regulations to ensure speed, but competition and profit are adequate motivators for drug manufacturers trying to be first to the market.
Time and again, Klein and Thompson highlight government ineptitude. They highlight the issues created by politicians imposing political solutions to real issues. They highlight the slow, cumbersome process to obtain government funding. And they highlight the numerous times regulations prevented progress until regulations were cast aside.
But each time they call for more government, better government, failing to see that this is how the government is. They yearn for a government of years past that worked better in the past when it was smaller and less political—this will not get better any time soon. The private sector, while flawed, has led to most of the monumental breakthroughs in society. Why not empower the private sector, make it stronger?
“Abundance” opens with an urbanist’s utopian vision of the future. A world powered by clean (nuclear) and renewable (wind and solar) energy sources, desalinated water, vertical farms (to preserve land mass that’s now occupied by Big Ag, miracle drugs delivered by flying robots, and commuters driving electric vehicles, bikes and scooters. Which is more likely to deliver these results? A government in the way or a government clearing the way?
The authors deserve credit for coming around to what many on the American right have been saying for years, which is that we as a society did not take a vow of poverty. Building more housing and water storage and other essentials is a good thing.
Pacific Research Institute’s Director of the Free Cities Center, Steven Greenhut, wrote on the concept of abundance years ago in his book “Winning the Water Wars: California can meet its water needs by promoting abundance rather than managing scarcity.” A few years later Free Cities Center contributor and Pacific Research Institute ally Ed Ring wrote “The Abundance Choice: Our Fight for More Water in California.” Abundance is not a new concept and we welcome new allies in the fight for basic human needs.
While “Abundance” does a great job explaining how we got to this place of withering despair, the ideology of the authors prevents them from seeing the path forward. The caricature they paint of the American right would have you believe we believe there’s no role for the government anywhere—though this is simply bumper sticker analysis.
There is a role for government in our path forward, but it is limited in scope and enabling of the private sector. It is said that the government is best which governs least. If there is a sequel to “Abundance,” Klein and Thompson would be wise to start there.
Matthew Fleming is director of communications for the Pacific Research Institute.
