We Americans all know that we work too hard, save too little, and buy too many things that in the end don’t really make us happy. In Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, Cornell economist Robert Frank provides a surprising explanation for why we spend so much to so little avail. From an individual’s point of view, Frank argues, profligate purchasing (...)
March 14, 2008
Books
Smart for One, Dumb for All
Falling BehindHow Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class Robert H. Frank University of California Press, $19.95, 160 pp.
The remainder of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you’re not currently a Commonweal subscriber in print or online, an online-only subscription costs just $34 a year. Click here for immediate access.

