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SUMMARY:Mark Joseph Stelzner discusses Growth Machines
DESCRIPTION:Mark Joseph Stelzner discusses Growth Machines at Bank Square Books in Mystic on Friday\, August 21\, just three days after the book’s publication. \nThe free author talk and signing begins at 6 p.m. Stelzner\, an associate professor of economics at Connecticut College\, uses his new book to tackle a question almost everyone has experienced in one form or another: Why do we keep buying things we don’t really need\, even when getting more stuff doesn’t seem to make us happier? \nHis answer goes considerably beyond blaming advertising\, credit cards or a lack of self-control. Growth Machines argues that America’s economic system depends upon continually expanding consumption and has gradually helped condition people to find satisfaction in the act of consuming itself. \nWhy Do We Keep Buying?\nThink about the unopened books on a shelf. Clothes bought and barely worn. The perfectly functional phone replaced because a newer one appeared. \nStelzner argues that conventional economics doesn’t adequately explain behavior like this. \nPeople obviously work and spend money to meet genuine needs such as food and housing. But Growth Machines examines what happens after those needs have been satisfied. \nAccording to Stelzner\, consumption can become rewarding in itself. Buying something provides a temporary emotional payoff\, even when the object being purchased adds little lasting happiness to our lives. \nThe book then asks a larger question: What if that behavior isn’t merely an individual quirk? \nWhat if the economy needs it? \nAn Economy That Needs More\nAt the center of Growth Machines is Stelzner’s examination of what he calls “growthism\,” the assumption that an economy should continually become larger. \nIf economic growth depends heavily on consumer spending\, people can’t simply reach a comfortable level of material life and collectively decide they have enough. Businesses need customers to keep purchasing. New desires must emerge. Existing products must be replaced. \nStelzner traces how those economic pressures interact with human psychology\, status and social expectations. \nAcross 12 chapters\, he examines conspicuous consumption\, irrational economic behavior\, manipulation\, the potentially addictive qualities of consumption\, environmental consequences and the relationship between consumers and workers. \nThe final portion of the book turns toward another question: if endless consumption isn’t producing greater happiness\, what would an economy built around a different definition of prosperity look like? \nA New Book with a Local Connection\nThe Mystic appearance comes almost immediately after the book’s release. \nThe University of Chicago Press published the 296-page Growth Machines on August 18\, 2026\, making Friday’s Bank Square Books program one of the first opportunities for local readers to hear Stelzner discuss the finished book. \nThe subject also grows naturally from his academic work. \nStelzner joined Connecticut College in 2015 and is now an associate professor in the college’s Economics Department. His primary research has examined inequality and the political foundations of the economic system. \nHis work has explored labor laws and inequality\, antitrust policy\, wage discrimination\, private health care costs\, technological change\, slavery and capitalism\, and the economic history of the United States. \nMore recently\, that research expanded into the relationship between economic growth\, consumption and happiness. \nIn 2022\, he published research examining what economists call the Easterlin Paradox\, the observation that rising income and economic growth don’t necessarily produce corresponding long-term increases in happiness. \nGrowth Machines takes that problem beyond the academic journal and places consumption itself at the center of the discussion. \nFrom Inequality to the Shopping Cart\nStelzner’s background makes his approach to consumer behavior somewhat different from a traditional personal-finance critique. \nHe’s not primarily asking whether someone should have bought the $6 coffee or upgraded a television. \nHis research looks at the systems surrounding those decisions. \nPrevious work has examined how changes in labor law contributed to inequality during the Gilded Age\, how employers can exercise wage-setting power over workers and how political and institutional structures influence economic outcomes. \nWith Growth Machines\, the consumer becomes part of that larger economic structure. \nWe work to consume. Businesses depend on that consumption. Growth requires additional spending. Additional spending requires new wants. And satisfying those wants sends us back around the cycle. \nThe uncomfortable part of Stelzner’s argument is that people can participate willingly because buying something can genuinely feel good\, at least temporarily. \nThe Book Is Already Drawing Attention\nAlthough Growth Machines has only just been released\, it has attracted praise from several prominent scholars and writers examining capitalism\, inequality and economic growth. \nEconomist Thomas Piketty\, whose work has focused extensively on wealth and inequality\, described the book as a must-read examination of conspicuous consumption and the rise of growthism. \nHarvard historian Sven Beckert praised Stelzner’s exploration of how increasing consumption became connected to ideas about well-being and economic thought. \nOther early responses have focused on the book’s examination of the environmental consequences of an economy structured around continual expansion. \nThat gives Friday’s discussion several possible directions. Growth Machines isn’t simply about shopping habits. It touches economics\, psychology\, labor\, inequality\, environmental sustainability and a surprisingly personal question: \nHow much of what we want did we actually decide to want? \nAbout Mark Joseph Stelzner\nMark Joseph Stelzner is an associate professor of economics at Connecticut College in New London. \nHe earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston University\, a master’s degree from the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies and his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. \nHis academic research specializes in inequality and the political underpinnings of economic systems. \nStelzner’s scholarship has appeared in publications including the Cambridge Journal of Economics\, The Review of Black Political Economy\, Journal of Happiness Studies\, Economic History Review and Labor History. His work has also received attention from publications and organizations including The Economist\, The Nation\, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the Center for American Progress. \nGrowth Machines is published by the University of Chicago Press. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Mark Joseph Stelzner: Growth Machines Author Talk and Signing\nDate: Friday\, August 21\, 2026\nTime: 6–7 p.m. \nAdmission: Free\nAuthor: Mark Joseph Stelzner\nBook: Growth Machines: On the Hollow Joys of Consumption in the Desert of Economic Life\nPublisher: University of Chicago Press\nPublication Date: August 18\, 2026 \nThe program includes a discussion of Growth Machines followed by a book signing with Stelzner. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/mark-joseph-stelzner-discusses-growth-machines/
LOCATION:Bank Square Books\, 80 Stonington Rd\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Bank Square Books
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