Lebergott Pursuing Happiness

American Consumers in the Twentieth Century
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-6326-6
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 204 Seiten

Reihe: Princeton Legacy Library

Whether watching baseball or undergoing heart surgery, Americans have bought a variety of goods and services to achieve happiness. Here is a provocative look at what they have chosen to purchase. Stanley Lebergott maintains that the average consumer has behaved more reasonably than many distinguished critics of "materialism" have suggested. He sees consumers seeking to make an uncertain and often cruel world into a pleasanter and more convenient place--and, for the most part, succeeding. With refreshing common sense, he reminds us of what many "luxuries" have meant, especially for women: increased income since 1900 has been used largely to lighten the backbreaking labor once required by household chores.

Originally published in 1993.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lebergott, Stanley

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Tables and Figure

Preface

Pt. I Economic Well-Being

1 Consumers and Their Critics 3

2 Happiness and Economic Welfare 12

3 Consumer Choice: Advertising 16

4 Consumer Choice: Externalities, Varieties 21

5 Consumption Inequality 28

6 Immortality and the Budget Constraint 34

7 Per Capita Consumption and the Angel of the Lord 41

8 Women's Work: Home to Market 50

9 Work, Overwork, and Consumer Spending 61

10 More Goods: The Twentieth Century 69

Pt. II Major Trends, 1900-1990

Food 77

Tobacco 84

Alcohol 87

Clothing 90

Shoes 93

Housing 95

Fuel 104

Domestic Service 108

Household Operation 110

Water 117

Lighting 119

Health 121

Transport 128

Recreation 135

Welfare 140

Religion 142

Postscript 145

Appendix A: Personal Consumption Table 147

Appendix B: Estimating Details 165

Works Cited 171

Index 187