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There’s no indication that middle-income families feel resentful about the bigger mansions and yachts. But the near-rich, whose social circles intersect those of the rich, are subtly influenced by them.

Bob Frank

Once firms had to pay to pollute, they became incredibly inventive at figuring out cheaper ways to eliminate their SO2 emissions.
BOB FRANK

Emission Firm Pay Pollute Way
In the long run, greater investment would mean greater productivity and income growth.
BOB FRANK

Long Mean Running
Every group spends more when its income grows.
BOB FRANK

Groups Grows Income
Rather, the problem is that any individual merchant’s sign won’t be noticed unless it’s bigger and more garish than those of rival merchants.
BOB FRANK

Individual Notice Rather Rival Sign
Ever since the Great Depression, economists have known that demand shortages tend to persist in the wake of severe financial crises like the ones that happened in 1929 and 2008.
BOB FRANK

Demand Depression Financial Great
The upshot is that to send its children to a school of even average quality, a family must outbid half of other similar families who are pursuing the same goal.
BOB FRANK

Average Children School
In almost every instance, air and water quality goals were met more cheaply and quickly when we taxed pollution than when we tried to regulate it directly.
BOB FRANK

Air Cheaper Directly Goal Water
Commercial roadways in communities that lack zoning laws, for example, are often an aesthetic nightmare not because of insufficient competition, and not because merchants are stupid or lack taste.
BOB FRANK

Community Law Stupid
There’s no indication that middle-income families feel resentful about the bigger mansions and yachts. But the near-rich, whose social circles intersect those of the rich, are subtly influenced by them.
BOB FRANK

Circle Circles Income Rich Social
Prescriptive regulations, such as telling electric utilities what kinds of coal to burn or what kinds of scrubbers to install on their smokestacks, were not only intrusive, they were also grossly inefficient.
BOB FRANK

Coal Kind Regulation
And that’s become dramatically more expensive because of the growth in median house size, which was in turn caused by higher spending at the top.
BOB FRANK

Expensive Median More Size Spending Top
(We’d think ill of any parent whose aspirations were lower.) The rub is that the best schools tend to be located in more expensive neighborhoods.
BOB FRANK

Inspiration Neighborhoods Rub Schools

There’s no indication that middle-income families feel resentful about the bigger mansions and yachts. But the near-rich, whose social circles intersect those of the rich, are subtly influenced by them.

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There’s no indication that middle-income families feel resentful about the bigger mansions and yachts. But the near-rich, whose social circles intersect those of the rich, are subtly influenced by them.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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