And how about the poor? Considering that a common definition of "poor" is those in the lowest 20 percent of earnings and that somebody has to be in that category, don't expect their numbers to decrease any time soon. But again, Cox and Alm cut to the crux: How well-off are these poor? One of their many fascinating tables compares poor households in 1984 to poor households in 1994 and all households in 1971 (see table). As Cox and Alm observe, "By the standards of 1971, many of today's poor families might be considered members of the middle class."
The improvements cut across gender and racial lines. While some feminists continue to insist women are underpaid compared to men, even they don't contest that what they call the "pay gap" has narrowed dramatically. As for race, "After adjusting for inflation, the proportion of African-American families earning more than $75,000 has tripled since 1970, to 9 percent," note the authors. "In 1998 the poverty rate for African-Americans fell to 26.5 percent, the lowest since the government began collecting data on blacks' poverty in 1959."
Still, we could be doing better as a nation while slipping behind other countries. That's something some of us might find quite offensive. But even if you think it's important, it just ain't so. As we've found in recent months, the "Asian Tigers" have proved to be pussycats compared to our economy.
When you talk about export powerhouses, the name on everyone's lips is always "Japan." Yet America's overseas sales of goods and services were almost double those of Japan in 1996, and the United States doesn't have a United States to export to. America's share of world exports has remained constant, at about 13 percent, during the last quarter-century, which is hardly evidence we're becoming less competitive. Just compare the quality of American cars built this year to those of five years ago, much less 10, and you'll see a bit of the evidence as to why.
Of course, there's more to life than greater wealth--for instance, more time with your loved ones. That, too, is part of the trend. For all the talk of "the overworked American," as one book published a few years ago was titled, Americans on average are actually working fewer hours than ever.
According to Cox and Alm, the typical workweek was 34.4 hours in 1996, down from 36.9 in 1973. Employees work fewer hours in a number of ways: fewer days, later arrival, earlier departure, longer breaks. "Putting it all together," the authors write, "average annual work hours are down 10 percent since 1973--the equivalent of 23 work-days a year.... "When declining working hours, less time spent toiling at home, extended youth [getting jobs later in life], and longer retirement are all added up, the results are mind-boggling: American workers, on average, have added the equivalent of more than five years of waking leisure to their lives since 1973."
Some of us may spend that time watching Jerry Springer, to be sure, but it does allow more opportunity for more satisfying leisure, which, as Cox and Alm document, we are engaging in more and more. It's also more time to be spent with loved ones and doing charity work. "Almost half of the population finds time for some volunteer work," the authors write, "up from less than a quarter in 1974."
If there's something sad about all this, it's that so many Americans are convinced these improvements are the fruits of "reinvented government." Polls show this is one reason they are so forgiving of Bill Clinton's dogged efforts to become the most scandalous president in U.S. history.
But as Cox and Alm observe, "It's not government policy that gave us drive-through service, instant mail, [automatic teller] machines, home shopping networks, air-conditioned offices, and much, much more. It wasn't public decree that raised life expectancies by 30 years over the past century, or shortened our workweek by more than 20 hours. Over the past 200 years, we've progressed not by the grace of government but by the mechanism of the market."
Myths of Rich and Poor makes no pretense that greater wealth necessarily equals greater happiness. There are bitter billionaires and happy homeless persons. Data available elsewhere show what one would intuitively expect: that at least to the extent that it raises a person above subsistence level, more wealth does bring more happiness. Beyond that, it's up to us to make of our time what we wish. We can even spend it writing books about how the economy is doomed.
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