Household Wealth, Public Consumption, and Economic Well-Being in the United States
Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 386
28 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2003
Date Written: September 2003
Abstract
Standard official measures of economic well-being are based on money income. The general consensus is that such measures are seriously flawed because they ignore several crucial determinants of well-being. We examine two such determinants - household wealth and public consumption - in the context of the United States. Our findings suggest that the level and distribution of economic well-being is substantially altered when money income is adjusted for wealth or public consumption.
Keywords: living standards, public consumption, household wealth, inequality
JEL Classification: D31, D6, H4, P16, P17
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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