Download or read book Living Standards in the United States written by Daniel T. Slesnick and published by American Enterprise Institute. This book was released on 2000 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of nearly every national presidential campaign we are asked whether we are better off than we were four years ago. The question is almost always rhetorical. But many economists have attempted to address the standard-of-living issue objectively, and, for the most part, their findings paint a bleak picture. In Living Standards in the United States, Daniel T. Slesnick demonstrates that this pessimistic view of social welfare in the United States is unwarranted. The erroneous conclusions arise from the income-based methods used by the Bureau of the Census and others to measure welfare; a more accurate assessment is based on what families consume. Examining the two practices and highlighting the advantages of the consumption-based approach, Slesnick questions the case for changes in politics that are predicated on a declining or stagnant standard of living.