Myths of Rich And Poor: Why We're Better Off Than We Think

by Michael W. Cox, Richard Alm

Popular wisdom holds that the years since 1973—the end of the “postwar miracle”—have been a time of economic decline and stagnation: lackluster productivity, falling real wages, and lost competitiveness. The rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and most of us have barely held on while watching all the best jobs disappear overseas.As Myths of Rich and Poor demonstrates, this picture is not just wrong, it’s spectacularly wrong. The hard numbers, simple facts, and iconoclastic arguments of this book will change the way you think about the American economy.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid economics book that makes an important point. The trouble is, that point is often buried beneath pages and pages of facts and figures. The authors are economists, so that makes sense, but even an economics book should contain a clear narrative that uses select facts and figures to support that narrative.

With that said, the narrative is clear. Econimically speaking, Americans are better off now than we were in the early 1970s. Living standards, wages, household income, whatever measure you want to use, it's better than it's ever been. The numerous facts and figures make that clear.

Though the book is now ten years old, the point holds today. Even during the current economic climate, we're still wealthier and better off than we were in 1997 (when the book was published). Yet politicians and others try to make it sound we're in the midst of another Great Depression.

This book is a helpful and needed antidote to that poisonous and false mindset.

[stupidus · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't feel like you are better off now than at some previous point in your life, don't worry, man, statistically you're doing fine. Just fine.

Let's all just chant that, shall we? "Statistically we're all doing fine".

No, wait. Try this: "Statistically we're all doing better."

And then you could try repeating: "I'm just a big baby and a whiny person in general. Look how happy other people are. There's just something wrong with me personally."

I feel better already - how about you?

Some more chanting, eh?

That's a good boy. That's a good boy. See? It works!

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The statistics in this book are dated, from the 1990s, but the trends that the authors document seem long standing, so there is no reason to think that these trends have changed in the 2020s.

[X · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the stats cited in this book are dated and therefore no longer relevant. If not for this fact, this book might have been an interesting read. However, any book that cynically treats the Internet as a very small development displays a criminal lack of prescience on the part of the author.

[Uday · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all. An eye-opener.