had a larger population, we could be an even more attractive destination for investment - we could retake our position as the “economic center of the world.” That would make us richer as well as cementing our power vis-a-vis China. And when some companies put their factories and offices in China, it induces other companies to do the same, since they need to be located near to their supply chains - if the battery makers are in China, it makes sense for the phone makers to be in China too, etc. It also induces them to put factories and offices in China, which creates lots of jobs for Chinese people. The lure of that market forces them to put up with a lot, such as Chinese IP theft. Companies are desperate to invest in China because of that huge domestic market. In fact, there’s another reason that population would make America stronger, which Matt doesn’t really go into: Agglomeration effects. And that implies that we should offset our big dis advantage in population, by bulking up. to prevail in any sort of contest against China - military, economic, technological - are rapidly eroding. In others words, the advantages that would allow the U.S. But China is increasing its wealth and technology level all the time, and the recent COVID-19 episode should give us some information about the two countries’ government competence (It’s not all bad news for us we developed very spiffy vaccines in record time. Obviously, any contest of power between the two will also depend on their relative wealth, technology level, government competence, military competence, etc. In terms of population, China is bigger than the U.S., all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and Australia combined. It is a very good book, and you should buy it. Now, Matt Yglesias has written an entire book expounding this thesis, and providing a road map for how to bulk America up.

anyway, why not use it as a way to bulk up to a size where we can stand toe to toe with our soon-to-be-rival? As long as mass immigration is a good thing for the U.S. When it comes to national power, size matters even the richest, most well-run country can’t do much if it’s up against a halfway competent country 10 times its size.

As China becomes more authoritarian and more aggressive internationally, it needs someone to balance them. But Miles persuaded me that national power was an additional factor. I hadn’t really thought of immigration in those terms - I was always more about the economic and cultural benefits, and the idealism of America as a “nation of immigrants”. Back in 2013, my PhD advisor Miles Kimball wrote an article for Quartz suggesting that in order to outmatch China in terms of geopolitical clout, the U.S.

One billion americans book