Do Americans really need W. Michael Cox and Richard Alms book, Myths of Rich and Poor, to tell them how theyve gotten wealthier over the past twenty years? Yes, so long as books such as Robert Franks Luxury Fever claim with a straight face that the median American family has gained no ground, and that what people really care about is not so much the enjoyment of their own wealth but merely enjoying more than the Joneses.
Steven E. Landsburg is a professor of economics at the University of Rochester.