Rising Costs: A Tale of Two Economies

Most of my American classmates and I have come to terms with the harsh reality that without early and consistent investing, retirement may never be an option for us. Many of us begin learning the basics of the stock market in high school, and by our twenties, more of us hold investment accounts than traditional savings or retirement accounts — myself included. I do not have a 401(k), but I have a diversified portfolio of domestic and international stocks and bonds because I literally do not have a choice.

The U.S has a retirement crisis, a housing crisis, an affordability crisis, a student loan debt crisis, and an overall government debt of over 36 trillion dollars, or 830 trillion Kč (Treasury.gov, 2025). There’s truly no shortage of hurdles facing the average American young adult in the current day, a fact that is disguised by the country’s deceptively high GDP. Economic survival in the States feels like a game of financial ping pong between stretching out every last dollar and simultaneously trying to enjoy our twenties.

Before I began my study abroad semester in Prague, I was one of many American young people who idealized living in Europe. With publicly funded healthcare, affordable education, and efficient transportation, many European countries have effectively tackled three of the biggest challenges American young people face. Back home, a medical diagnosis can mean years of crushing debt, a college degree can have an even bigger price tag, and public transportation is an afterthought compared to constant highway development. 

That being said, there’s one area where Czech and U.S students can unite in their misery: accommodation. The rising cost of living in Prague has surged in recent years, fueled by foreign investment, a booming tourism economy, and rising rent prices that have pushed locals out of the city center. Though my study abroad program has provided me with a comfortable flat in the Vinohrady area, I’m acutely aware that many locals aren’t nearly as fortunate, with Czechia now ranking as the most expensive country in Europe to purchase property (Deloitte, 2024). It also holds the highest house price-to-income and house price-to-rent ratios in the world — making homeownership increasingly unattainable for the average young person, and even long-term renting in cities like Prague a financial stretch (IMF Global Housing Watch, 2021). 

Though the specifics differ, the pressure in both countries mirror one another. In Prague, many young people are experiencing the same financial anxiety that many Americans do, but theirs is driven more by structural stagnation over individual expectations. Rent and house prices continue to rise while wages remain the same, and while education here may be affordable, it does not guarantee any future employment. 

Czech people still overwhelmingly aspire to homeownership, even when market conditions indicate that renting is a financially better option, reflecting a deeply ingrained cultural desire, (Lux and Sunega, 2010; Zeman, 2025)

Unlike in America, Czechs recognize that the housing crisis cannot be solved simply with a “can-do” attitude. In fact, 64% of Czechs consider the absence of a law on affordable and social housing to be a significant problem. This highlights the widespread belief that government intervention is crucial for ensuring affordable housing options, rather than expecting individuals to navigate an increasingly unaffordable market on their own.

In the U.S., however, we’re constantly fed a different message: there’s no one else to blame but yourself. You didn’t invest early enough, work hard enough, or wake up early enough. You spent too much money on Starbucks and too much time on TikTok. The American economy demands participation in a system that wasn’t built to support us, and those systems falter, we’re told to work harder instead of considering any other options.The U.S might have the most prosperous economy in the world, but it consists of people who lie awake at night and wonder if they’ll ever be able to start a family or retire.

Both systems are deeply flawed and are hurting its own people. Czechs are underpaid and undervalued, and Americans are in hyper-individualized survival mode. Neither offers the stability we all hope to achieve with our lives. The difference is in who gets blamed when the system falls apart.

There’s something profoundly disillusionary about being 20-something in a world allergic to financial security. I know that no matter wherever I live in the future, it will be rife with instability — and that’s just the way it goes. We’re all being taught that our dreams are unattainable and that we should expect less. We’re living longer, working harder, and feeling more precarious than ever. Young people everywhere are fed up, and we’re beginning to ask better questions. The Czech model isn’t perfect, but it treats certain rights — healthcare, education, mobility — as non-negotiable. The American model, for all its innovation, still frames security as something you have to earn.

Ultimately, neither system has cracked the code for true stability. But there’s something powerful about recognizing that security shouldn’t be a prize for the privileged — it should be the baseline. Young people everywhere are no longer just adapting to broken systems; we’re starting to demand better ones. We aren’t just accepting the cards we’ve been dealt — we’re starting to question why the game is rigged in the first place. Across borders and systems, we’re finding common ground in our frustration and our ambition. 

The world we inherited might be unstable, but the world we’re building doesn’t have to be. If we want affordable housing, accessible healthcare, and education that doesn’t bankrupt us, we can’t settle for survival. We have to organize, vote, speak up, and demand more — just as past generations here once did. After all, Prague knows better than most that real change begins when people refuse to accept the status quo.

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