Gen Z's growing consumer power

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the father of three children who fall right in the middle of Gen Z — anyone born between 1997 and 2012 — I have tried to prepare them for the uncertainties and complexities of 21st-century life. Like every parent, my wife and I have wondered where their path would lead them once they become fully independent and how they would reshape society and the economy.

To be sure, the outlook is not entirely rosy. Having lived through a pandemic and confronting a worsening climate crisis, members of Gen Z are often portrayed as grappling with a profound sense of pessimism. There is a reason that Greta Thunberg is one of the generation's most prominent voices.