What has happened to the quality of life in the advanced industrialized nations?

'Especially useful to scholars is the in-depth description of methodology relating to the measures of well-being, the nature of the data, and terminology. A valuable addition to economic, sociological, and public policy collections. Highly recommended.' - H.I. Liebling, Choice. Throughout the 1990s the US expanded its lead over other advanced industrial nations in terms of conventionally measured per capita income. However, it is not clear that welfare levels in America have grown concomitantly with per capita income, or that Americans are necessarily better off than citizens of other advanced countries. The contributors to this volume investigate to what extent welfare has increased in the United States over the postwar period and provide a rigorous examination of both conventional measures of the standard of living, as well as more inclusive indices.