1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779838003321

Autore

Frank Robert

Titolo

Falling Behind : How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class / / Robert Frank

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA : , : University of California Press, , [2013]

©2013

ISBN

0-520-95743-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (177 p.)

Collana

Wildavsky Forum Series ; ; 4

Disciplina

305.5/50973

Soggetti

Consumption (Economics) -- United States

Equality -- Economic aspects -- United States

Income distribution -- United States

Middle class -- United States -- Economic conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface to the 2013 Edition -- Preface to the 2007 Edition -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Recent Changes in Income and Wealth Inequality -- 3. Inequality, Happiness, and Health -- 4. Envy or Context? -- 5. The Rising Cost of Adequate -- 6. Why Do We Care about Rank? -- 7. What Types of Consumption Are Most Sensitive to Context? -- 8. How Can Middle-Class Families Afford to Keep Up? -- 9. Smart for One, Dumb for All -- 10. Looking Ahead -- 11. Lessons for Public Policy -- 12. Reflections -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

With a timely new foreword by Robert Frank, this groundbreaking book explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today. Although middle-income families don't earn much more than they did several decades ago, they are buying bigger cars, houses, and appliances. To pay for them, they spend more than they earn and carry record levels of debt. Robert Frank explains how increased concentrations of income and wealth at the top of the economic pyramid have set off "expenditure cascades" that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class. Writing in lively prose for a general audience, Frank employs up-to-date economic data and examples drawn from everyday life to shed light on reigning models of



consumer behavior. He also suggests reforms that could mitigate the costs of inequality. Falling Behind compels us to rethink how and why we live our economic lives the way we do.