Middle-Class Stagnant?
8 September 2006
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Paul Krugman asserts that "the United States as a whole has µgrown a lot richer over the past generation, but the typical American family hasn't" ("Whining Over Discontent," September 8). As David Brooks mentioned yesterday, however, data presented in Stephen Rose's recent essay* in The American Prospect cast doubt on this assertion.
Since 1979 the percent of prime-age Americans (those 25 to 59 years old) living in households with real annual incomes below $75,000 fell, while the percent living in households with real annual incomes above $75,000 rose. Most impressively, the percent of such Americans living in households earning real annual incomes of $100,000 or more increased over the past quarter century from 10 percent to 23 percent. This picture is hardly one of middle-class stagnation.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11943
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Paul Krugman asserts that "the United States as a whole has µgrown a lot richer over the past generation, but the typical American family hasn't" ("Whining Over Discontent," September 8). As David Brooks mentioned yesterday, however, data presented in Stephen Rose's recent essay* in The American Prospect cast doubt on this assertion.
Since 1979 the percent of prime-age Americans (those 25 to 59 years old) living in households with real annual incomes below $75,000 fell, while the percent living in households with real annual incomes above $75,000 rose. Most impressively, the percent of such Americans living in households earning real annual incomes of $100,000 or more increased over the past quarter century from 10 percent to 23 percent. This picture is hardly one of middle-class stagnation.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11943
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Sunday May 20, 2007 at 3:06pm