The David Lin Report · Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent believes the era of secular stagnation is over, replaced by a new period of 'secular growth.' He contrasts this with previous views that suggested innovation had peaked, noting that current economic conditions, including technological advancements and investment, point towards sustained growth rather than stagnation.
“Um, first, when I was here in these meetings years ago, and even following the G20 from the outside, there were two themes that would really stand up as the, uh, common wisdom among academics and policy makers some years ago. The first was secular stagnation. The idea that, uh, in some sense, all the good stuff had already been invented, that we would be managing an economy that was going to be short of investment and economic growth. Uh, and I, uh, show up today, 100 days into my tenure, a common that I made in Jackson Hole a day or two ago is that secular stagnation seems like a description of a past long ago. The new period is one of secular growth.”