Fans of the abundance movement say that adding supply solves big problems in housing and health care. But when it comes to getting around, things get complicated. Abundance seems poised to be the policy literati’s favorite term of 2025, as an array of center-left academics, activists and pundits continue to spread its gospel. The buzzy word is the subject of an eponymous book by the journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson; in it, they write that abundance “reorients politics around a fresh provocation: Can we solve our problems with supply?”...
The appeal of abundance is intuitive for housing, energy, and health care — sectors that Klein and Thompson say need a rethink. Across all three, observers bemoan thickets of regulations that restrict the provision of necessary goods and services. By spurring a supply-side reboot, abundance acolytes strive to create a world of plenty.
But it is less obvious what abundance means for the fourth sector the authors list: transportation. After all, the vast majority of Americans travel by car. Dramatically expanding driving even further would threaten the planet, public health, and urban life.
