Question: Gregg Easterbrook, in his book, The Progress Paradox (New York: Random House, 2003) noted that life in the United States is significantly better today than in the past and provided many statistical facts, including:
a. Nearly a quarter of households (or 60 million people) have incomes of at least $75,000 a year.
b. Real (inflation adjusted) per capita income has more than doubled since 1960-people on average have twice the real purchasing power now as in 1960.
c. In 1956, the typical American had to work 16 weeks for each 100 square feet of new housing. Today that number is 14 weeks, and new houses are considerably more luxurious.
d. The United States accepts more legal immigrants than all other nations of the world combined.
e. The quality of health care improved substantially over the last half century, and life spans have grown dramatically.
This is just a sampling of the improvements in living standards Easterbrook catalogued. However, his book is subtitled How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, and this is a paradox he set out to explain. What reasons might explain why even though our lives have improved, people feel that life was better in an earlier time?