E27: Make trade not war, I'm neoliberal, infant mortality in the U.S., and more:
Tony Morley, July 6th, 2026
“Pro-market ideas have taken hold nearly everywhere, raising living standards by an extraordinary amount for a huge number of people.” — Sam Bowman
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You’re reading The Up Wing, Edition 27: progress, optimistic news and ideas, collated, curated, and delivered. We’re pro-growth, free markets, progress, techno-optimism, classical liberalism, and a better future for civilization. Help support our work by sharing Edition 27 on X/Twitter here:
Life expectancy in the United States just hit an all-time record.
Life expectancy in the United States just climbed to its highest since independence. In fact, it's the highest it's ever been on the land that the United States occupies in human history. That'll I'll argue, is cause for celebration.
“It might surprise you to learn that the US actually just set a new record low in its death rate, the average American’s odds of dying in a given year.”
Bryan Walsh
I’m a neoliberal. Maybe you are too
We believe in free markets and capitalism, property rights, optimism, trade, and a better future for humanity. Neoliberalism may well be a modern pejorative, but it's a pejorative that's saved a billion lives. I’m a neoliberal; are you?
Sam Bowman
“We think that markets are by far the best way of organising most human affairs that involve scarce resources, because they align people’s incentives in ways that communicate where resources can be used most efficiently, and give people reasons to come up with new ways of using existing resources.”
The most detailed image of the Milky Way has just been captured, and it's a game-changer
A new image, captured over 2,000 hours — 270 times larger than Hubble's field of view- could help unlock the hunt for exoplanets.
“The image is a mosaic containing more than 60 million stars, as well as nebulae and star clusters. It will allow scientists to confirm the possible presence of exoplanets using a microlensing technique and measure their masses with greater precision.”
Marta Musso
People Worldwide More Satisfied With Their Freedom in Life
“In 2025, a median of 82% of adults across 138 countries said they were satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their life” “This is nominally the highest level of satisfaction on record,”
Benedict Vigers
“Globally, more people are satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives than were satisfied two decades ago, with gains driven largely by countries where those satisfied with this freedom were once in the minority.”
“The seven largest country-level increases in perceived freedom globally are all seen in this wider region, including Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Georgia and Moldova. Many of these used to place significant restrictions on people’s freedoms”
It's time to teach capitalism
It's the most powerful economic system for reducing poverty and increasing abundance; perhaps it's time to “teach capitalism?” A new report found that 82 per cent of Americans want the benefits of free markets taught in high school.”
Ari Shtein
“Among 5,306 respondents, 82 percent said it was "very" or "somewhat important" to teach about "the benefit of free market capitalism" in high schools. Only 4 percent said that it should not be taught.”
What Makes a Historical Golden Age? And What Ends One?
America became rich by embracing the freedom and trade, of goods, services and ideas, turning our backs on globlization, and closing inward will work toward reversing that prosperity.
“And the Romans didn’t do this for charitable reasons. They did it for strategic ones. More people, more resources, more ideas. Which resulted in the most prosperous society the world had ever seen.” — Kite and Key
Global poverty has declined dramatically over the last two decades
Global extreme poverty continues to tick downward incrementally, though progress forward isn't progress complete, and the rate of decline has itself slowed.
“Globally, the nowcasted estimates project a decrease in extreme poverty from 10.4 percent in the current line-up year of 2024 to 10.0 percent in 2026.”
Jonas Helth Lønborg
Good Trade Deals Make Good Neighbours
Trade between countries reduces conflict and prices, while increasing the availability of goods and services. TLDR, countries that trade freely and prolifically — live longer, get richer, and improve their standards of living.
“You want the benefits of free trade? Food is cheaper. Food is cheaper, clothes are cheaper, steel is cheaper, cars are cheaper, phone service is cheaper.”
Jake Scott
Trade World
Trade World by Ed Conway drops this September, 2026, and may well be worth ordering a copy. Conway, the previous author of Material World. The trade world will go live in audiobook, ebook, and hard-copy print formats.
“That loaf of bread that looks like it’s about the most domestic, homespun product you can buy from the supermarket? The ingredients have invariably travelled thousands of miles to get from you.”
Ed Conway
The U.S. infant mortality rate fell to an all-time low
“The U.S. infant mortality rate fell to an all-time low” “Decline translates to hundreds of fewer infant deaths per year” The infant mortality rate has fallen to the lowest figure on record; just 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
Associated Press
“While that appears to be a small decline from about 5.5 in 2024 and 5.6 in the two years preceding, researchers say it is statistically meaningful and translates to hundreds of fewer infant deaths per year.”
Make Trade, Not War: How Free Exchange Creates Peace: How Open markets lead to closed battlefields
“Trade does more than increase economic prosperity—it also fosters peace. By strengthening economic interdependence and aligning material incentives, trade reduces the likelihood of both interstate and civil conflict.”
Human Progress
“French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote that trade barriers “create isolation, isolation gives rise to hatred, hatred to war, war to invasion.” And an abundance—and I do mean abundance—of empirical studies have shown Bastiat to be correct: trade indeed reduces interstate military conflict”
Higher GDP, Higher Life Expectancy
Higher GDP, greater economic growth and increased personal incomes all equate to a higher life expectancy — no exceptions. The good news is that life expectancy has increased in lockstep with economic growth across all countries over the last two decades.
“Upper-middle income countries posted the largest increase, rising from 41.9 years in 1960 to 76.3 years. That is a gain of 34.4 years, the fastest improvement of any group in the dataset.”
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-world-added-decades-to-life-expectancy/
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