Dr. Jeffery L. Degner explains how an “inflation culture” reshapes marriage, adulthood, and family life for Gen Z and contrasts it with a path of courageous independence, sound saving, and earlier family formation.
Why the Economy Is Failing Generation Z: Mises Student Circle
The Mises Institute visits Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to shed light on the looming economic issues affecting Generation Z. Why does the economy seem so tilted to benefit Baby Boomers at the expense of future generations? Is capitalism broken, or is the root cause something else? What is the key to a civilization that fosters advancement, prosperity, cultural sanity, and intergenerational harmony? Mises Senior Fellow Alex. J. Pollock, Fellows Mark Brandly and Jeffery L. Degner, and Mises media and content producer Connor O’Keeffe will address these questions and more.
This student-only event was presented on November 1, 2025.
Dr. Mark Brandly examines what’s genuinely hard and what’s overstated about Gen Z’s economic situation, arguing that inflation, regulation, and a bloated welfare–bureaucratic state are driving their struggles, and urging students to learn economics and join the fight for liberty.
Connor O’Keeffe explains why the New Right’s economic populists have adopted a progressive myth of “laissez-faire gone wrong,” and instead shows how a century of inflation, bailouts, regulation, and managed trade has rigged the system against younger Americans.
Mises Senior Fellow Alex J. Pollock explains how the post-1971 “Nixonian” paper-money world makes the Fed both the engine of inflation and a prop for an oversized state, urging students to see central banking as the hidden arsonist behind booms, busts, and the erosion of their future purchasing...
