It’s no secret that Generation Z is fed up with the economic status quo. And rightfully so. They face a housing affordability crisis and an increasingly thin job market. They’ve suffered years of unrelenting inflation at this point. The frustrations of Gen Z, and the economic establishment’s disinterest in addressing them, have driven young Americans to reject the economic dogma that has dominated for decades and to instead seek out answers from outside the economic mainstream.
Unfortunately, that righteous pursuit has led many Gen Z Americans to the wrong answers, as can be seen in the surging popularity of ideologies like socialism and protectionism. What young Americans need to understand now more than ever is that truly free markets, not socialism, are the only genuine alternative to our interventionist status quo.
To help with this, in early November the Mises Institute traveled to Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where we hosted an event for students featuring a series of talks by our faculty and staff.
Mises Institute Fellow Dr. Jeff Degner kicked the event off with a talk about how permanent price inflation brought about by the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has caused and exacerbated many of Gen Z’s mounting problems—including many that don’t appear, at first glance, to be related to economics at all.
Mises Institute Fellow Dr. Mark Brandly followed with a talk that reminded the students that not every aspect of our current economic system is rotten and in need of radical restructuring. The market process is still bringing about wondrous results where it’s allowed to operate, so any effort to improve our economic system must be precise in what it seeks to change.
Continuing with that theme, Mises Institute staff writer Connor O’Keeffe warned the young, mostly conservative students to not fall for the economic interventionism pushed by some right-wing pundits and leaders, who use young people’s anger to push policies that are strikingly similar to those of America’s progressive left.
Mises Institute Senior Fellow Alex Pollock wrapped things up with a clarifying analysis of the Federal Reserve—contrasting what it actually does with what it claims to do, and explaining why Gen Z ought to care deeply about the actions of America’s central bank.
Finally, everyone headed over to Cornerstone’s Miller Library for a tour and the official dedication of the new David Gordon Library Collection. Earlier this year, Mises Institute Senior Fellow Dr. David Gordon began transferring his extensive personal library of over 16,000 volumes to Cornerstone University. Students were given a behind-the- scenes look at the remarkable effort and care with which Cornerstone’s librarians are processing this colossal noncirculating collection and preparing it for use. Cornerstone students are very fortunate to have Dr. Gordon’s collection to glean from as they work to build a better economic system for themselves and generations to follow.
