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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. In a book that explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today, 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.
Copub: Russell Sage Foundation
- Sales Rank: #713802 in Books
- Published on: 2007-07-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .42" h x 6.78" w x 8.20" l, .44 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 160 pages
From Booklist
Economist Frank argues that rising economic inequality harms the middle class, and he uses familiar examples to teach us about consumer behavior. One interesting example is the buying of larger and larger houses by those at the top levels of income and wealth, which leads families in the middle to spend a greater percentage of income on housing in order to send their children to a school of average quality. They must then spend less on other important categories while their real purchasing power over decades stagnates. We learn about the role of technology in shaking out industries where a few become big winners and the rest hardly make it, explaining why foreign competition isn't always the reason. Frank's recommendation in favor of a progressive consumption tax is certain to draw controversy. This is an excellent book, written in an easy, understandable manner, alive with important examples of how our society spends its money and who are the winners and losers. Whaley, Mary
From the Inside Flap
"I've been a skeptic. Bob Frank is persistent. He's beginning to convince me."—Thomas C. Schelling, author of The Strategy of Conflict
"The arguments here are powerful and multidisciplinary. The crux is explaining how rising economic inequality causes harm to the middle class. It also offers a policy reform—a progressive consumption tax—that serves to mitigate this harm. This is a gem of a book."—Lee S. Friedman, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley
"In this lively provocative book filled with memorable new examples, Bob Frank goes beyond his previous work (Luxury Fever, Winner-Take-All Society, and Choosing the Right Pond) and clarifies that 'falling behind' is a consequence not of envy but rather of the simple fact that a person's evaluation of his own possessions 'depends always and everywhere on context'—an unconscious comparison with his neighbor's possessions or with his own previous possessions. His illuminating interchange with prominent discussants is a unique contribution of this book."—Laurence Seidman, Chaplin Tyler Professor of Economics, University of Delaware
"You may think that you understand what's in Bob Frank's earlier books, Choosing the Right Pond and Luxury Fever. You may even have read them. Nevertheless, if you pay even passing attention to the big economic policy questions, you should still read his latest contribution, Falling Behind. In this century, distributional concerns will top the policy agenda. This masterful essay will change how you think about them."—Paul Romer, Stanford University
"The most influential ideas often turn out to be those that seem obvious—once someone has had the wit to point them out. Robert Frank's ideas in Falling Behind meet this test. In this short, lucid set of essays he explains exactly how and why an unequal society leaves almost all its members worse-off, including most of those who objectively are doing 'better.' This is a very important application of economic logic to modern America's main domestic problem."—James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly
"Robert Frank escapes the fog of economics wars by illuminating the meaning of facts on the ground, not numerical theories in the sky. He sketches a theory of human economic nature and links it responsibly to the rickety choices of policy-makers who have no such theory or, worse, a truly faulty one."—Lionel Tiger, Rutgers University
"Robert Frank is the rare sort of economist whose work disconcerts economists and delights the rest of us. This is not mainly because he mischievously highlights the blind spots of his learned profession, but because his insights reveal fundamental, unnoticed, and yet very important truths about the society in which we live. As inequality has grown in America over the last three decades, Frank shows in this fluent and powerful little book, we have all been led by human nature to act in ways that are bad for virtually everyone. Frank's ideas should play an important and innovative role in the gathering debate about inequality in America."—Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University
About the Author
Robert H. Frank is an economics professor in the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action, and a columnist for The New York Times. His books include The Winner Take-All Society (with Philip J. Cook), Luxury Fever, Choosing the Right Pond, Passions Within Reason, and Principles of Economics (with Ben S. Bernanke).
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Interesting thoughts on the design of the US economic system
By Artephius (.
I have never read any of Frank's other books before reading this one. I have read over 200 books on investing, and this book piqued my interest because I have always been interested in income inequality.
Wilfred Pareto, the Italian economist, found interesting phenomena when he researched who had most of the income and wealth in Italy in the early 1900's. He was surprised to find that 20% of the population had 80% of the income or 80% of the wealth. He found the same phenomena when he researched England in the late 1800's. This phenomenon has come to be called the Pareto Rule...or the 80:20 Rule.
If you check the USA today, you will find Pareto's Rule is still alive and well. 20% of the population has about 80% of the income and about 90% of the financial wealth.
I have been interested in finding out why this phenomenon has held across 3 countries for over 100 years.
The author conveniently forgot to show the actual income distribution of the U.S. in his charts. He chose to only show the percentage change in income for each of the 5 deciles groups.
The whole premise of this book can be summed up as follows:
-Income inequality has increased in the US the last 40 years
-Rising income inequality is a bad thing
-One reason for the rising inequality is technological changes and the George Bush tax cuts for the wealthy
-The other reason for the rising inequality is that an "arms race" is created when the middle class sees the wealthy have more toys....and therefore the middle class must spend more on bigger houses and fancier cars
-The recommended fix is to switch from a progressive income based federal tax to a consumption based tax system (where savings are not taxed) and taxes would be increased for the wealthy
-The additional tax revenue would be used to provide more needed Federal Government services
One key assumption of this book is that US income inequality has increased the last 40 years. According to Wikipedia.....the Gini Coefficient for the US in 1967 was 39.7 and it increased to 46.3 in 2007. I'm not sure it is appropriate to ratio these two Gini numbers.........but if it is....this is a 17% increase in income inequality (the Gini Coefficient is supposed to be a metric for assessing income inequality).
A 17% increase over 40 years doesn't seem that dramatic to me. Given the large number of data sources required to calculate the Gini Coefficient......I doubt a 17% increase is even statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.
Another challenge to this key assumption is that Pareto's findings (20% of the population have 80% of the wealth) have held up over 100 years across three different countries and the 80:20 ratio has not changed significantly.
Based upon these 2 factors, I have my doubts that income inequality has really increased in the US the last 40 years.
Another premise of this book is that middle class citizens have no recourse except to go into debt and spend more to keep up with the Jones's.
Way back in 1849 when Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield, Mr. Macawber says, with respect to money:
"Income 6 pence a week, expenditure 5 pence a week, result happiness: Income 6 pence a week, expenditure 7 pence a week, result misery."
In Stanley's Millionaire Next Door, he found that most millionaires chose to live below their means so they could save money....invest the savings......and eventually be millionaires. Many people intentionally stayed in homes in middle class neighborhoods with decent school systems.....versus neighborhoods with big houses and the expectation (and expense) of sending your kids to private school. These Millionaires were frugal on their expenses for clothes, watches, vehicles, and houses. In fact, many bought vehicles using the $ per pound ratio to get the best value (Ford F150's rank high on the $ per pound ratio). I would contend that many people are free to choose to their lifestyle.......so as Stanley says.........they can choose to own a lot of cattle......or be all hat and no cattle. The author seems to contend that 100% of the people have no choice but to participate in the arms race.
The author also suggests the current public school system is a well designed one because it caps educational costs versus the arms race which would result if vouchers could be used to attend any school. One wonders if vouchers could be used to attend any school...including the amount of property tax paid.....would this encourage some free market competition and possibly lower total educational costs?
I have often wondered why our current U.S. system penalizes savers. Taxes are delayed if you save in a defined contribution retirement plan.....savings beyond these plans is almost penalized. First, the money is taxed as federal, state, and social security taxes. Once you invest it, another government tax of inflation must be paid........ plus federal, state, and income taxes on any interest or capital gains. With inflation currently running higher than interest rates on savings accounts........there is not much incentive to save.
I might be in favor of switching our tax system to a consumption based system like the author advocates, but with some additional caveats. The caveats would be a 40-year transition of switching Social Security from pay-as-you-go to an individual account in low cost index funds like the current Thrift savings plan for government employees. I would also like to see total taxation capped at 15% of gross earnings (including local, state, and federal taxes)......unless during a Congressional declared state of war. I am also concerned about the "law of unintended consequences" if we change our tax system.
I do not agree with the author's plan to increase taxes on higher income earners.......giving the government more of our dollars to spend.......and waste.
I tend to side with Milton Friedman who believed that if government action is taken in pursuit of economic equality that our political freedom will suffer. In a famous quote, he said:
"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."
Although you may not agree with the author's recommended fix, his book does cause one to think about how our US economic system is designed. At some point of high enough income inequality......the 80% of the population who does not have the income and wealth will vote themselves a share of the income from the 20% who take all the risk and generate all of the jobs (unless you believe the 20% with the money donate enough money to control our political system).
In this age of full disclosure, it can be noted that I am the author and publisher of the book INDEX MUTUAL FUNDS: HOW TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE AND BEAT THE PROS. This book is an introduction to the concept of index funds is and is sold on Amazon. I am also a contributing author to the book THE BOGLEHEADS GUIDE TO RETIREMENT PLANNING available from Amazon with an estimated release date of October 2009. I have also written 21 short stories on investing which are also available on Amazon.
If you want to become one of the 20% who have all the income and wealth, you might want to read some of the books noted below. They may help you eventually enter the top 20% group.
The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Working Harder for Average
By M. Malzone
The dictum "context is everything" is certainly true when it comes to assessing the value of material goods.
In Falling Behind, economist Robert H. Frank shows that what we consider "average" or "good enough" in a home or car is determined by context: what are others around us driving? where are they living? Is a `79 Chevy Nova is adequate (or even luxuriant)? The answer to this depends on the cars driven by others around us. This context varies between Cuba and the snazzier parts of L.A. Context matters in assessing the value of many things: cars, real estate, appliances, clothing. Not all goods are evaluated in this way: Frank categorizes those that are as positional goods.
Frank lays to rest the notion that wanting what others have is greed or envy, or that we are duped by snazzy advertising. Rather, it is natural to judge one's own assets in terms of local context. Having less than the "norm" has tangible consequences for professionals: Doctors or lawyers who fail to keep up appearances will be judged as incompetent. People who choose to buy smaller homes will end up in poorer neighborhoods, and suffer their attendant problems.
The inflation of positional goods is driven by income inequality. Since the 1970's, the incomes of those at the very top has risen dramatically, while those at the bottom are now earning about the same or less. (If you want clear graphics and elucidated statistics on rising income inequality, look no further than chapter 2.) However, changing standards for what constitutes a luxury home or car have "trickled down" so that middle-income Americans now need to spend more to achieve average.
Frank likens the arms-race style inflation of positional goods to the metaphor of the stadium. If one spectator stands up, he/she will get a better view. But if everyone stands, they will all have the same view as before, except they will have given up their comfy seats. The author calls this behavior "smart for one, dumb for all."
Frank outlines what working and middle class families have had to sacrifice to achieve the new average: time, equity, and investment in public works. Workers must live farther from work to afford average, and have longer commutes. They work longer hours, and sleep less. Families don't save as much, and they go into debt. People who feel strapped for cash are less willing to pay the taxes necessary to maintain roads and schools, so these services get cut.
For all that I enjoyed this book, I cannot rate it a 5. While the tone through most of the book was jargon-free and accessible to the non-economist, Frank lapses into dense econo-speak in places (notably chapters 6 and 7). Frank also delves into "Darwinian" hypotheses in chapter 6, which only detracted from his larger point. After all, he had already made the case for the positional judgement of goods. The evo-psych explanation lacks any evidential support, and merely stating that it is the "biological," or, worse yet, "Darwinian" point of view is not sufficient for it to be taken seriously.
The final chapters redeemed this book for me, as the author proposes a novel, progressive tax solution: taxing consumption while exempting savings. A progressive marginal tax rate on consumption would reward those who save rather than spend, limiting the inflation of positional goods as people opt for smaller mansions and more utilitarian vehicles. The tax is not regressive: People earning modest salaries can apply their deduction to their taxable consumption, so that they are not penalized for being unable to save.
If you want to know why the rich get richer, the poor and middle class can't get ahead, and houses and cars seem to have doped up on steroids since 1970, give this book a read.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
who is cool depends on who is cool
By Alexander Kemestrios Ben
The first college I went to was a small community college out in the middle of nowhere. Most of its residents were extremely poor people fresh from the factory. In such an environment, I felt very wealthy and did not see the need to buy better clothes. I soon transferred to Michigan State University. Talk about a sea-change. Suddenly, I was the odd man out. My clothes were otiose, my habits slovenly and my look unkempt. It was extremely stressful (I am sure my HPA was going nuts pumping cortisol like crazy). I needed a new wardrobe. Not only that, but I need a conspicuously expensive and ridiculous one.
If you take this experience and apply it across the middle class board, you have Mr. Frank's book. You see, all of the middle class is in a positional arms race over goods like cars, houses, clothes, watches, and other oddities, while skimping over public goods, insurance, and saftey.
Frank compares this arms race to animals who constantly get bigger antlers to compete and get females. Soon the antlers are so big and cumbersome that they are a handicap in many ways. Yet, if a mutation 'attempts' to take over the population and make smaller antlers, the bigger antlers will win because animals that possess them can fight better and monopolize the females. Frank calls this the "smart for one, dumb for all" principle. I think the reasons are fairly obvious. Similarly, if we would all agree to limit the size of our house and cars and pay more for roads and parks, we would all benefit. However, there is always going to be that one idiot who gets the bigger house and the SUV. Now he is rolling in attention, going to the best school, and safer than ever in his huge SUV. All it takes is this small spark to ignite an all out war for position. But, remember, since position is relative, we end up in the same spot anyway! Except, we are now skimming on the important, non-positional public goods.
Frank's book is a short, lucid, and compelling account of what is going on with the middle class. I think he gives short shrift to role of the media and corporations, but his theories and ideas do have the benefit of being parsimonious and logical.
Great book.
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