Dear Capitolisters,
This week’s edition will be short and chart‐heavy, as we’re all busy making Thanksgiving stuffing and traveling to or trying to avoid our families.
Speaking of giving thanks, last week saw the world welcome—per U.N. estimates, at least—its 8 billionth human. The news was greeted by the usual concern and consternation about population growth, strained resources, and overconsumption—especially in fast‐growing places like Nigeria or India. Yet by an array of metrics, the long‐term trajectory of life on Earth has been overwhelmingly positive (though, surely, things could always be even better). So this Thanksgiving, I invite you to sit back, pour a warm glass of gravy, and take this moment to be thankful you’re living in today’s world—and especially in today’s United States—instead of the one that greeted its 4 billionth inhabitant back in the good ol’ 1970s.