AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP
Abstract: In recent years, Americans have seen their house values and 401(k) balances rise faster than wages, prompting some commentators to declare that the U.S. has shifted from a wage-oriented New Deal order to an asset-oriented neoliberal order. This book project investigates the rise of an investment-oriented political culture accompanying the transformation of the American political economy during this time. By tracing shifts in the regulation and public perception of home equity lending and stock market participation, it illustrates how policymakers, economic elites, and citizens turned to asset-building as a means to forge new relationships between citizens and their government while also managing mounting political, social, and economic tensions in the decades after the New Deal.
Chloe Thurston is associate professor of political science and Institute for Policy Research faculty fellow at Northwestern University. Her work focuses on American political development and political economy, in particular, the politics of credit, debt, and asset-building. She is author of At the Boundaries of Homeownership: Credit, Discrimination, and the American State and co-author (with Emily Zackin) of The Political Development of American Debt Relief.
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