A Brighter Future

Foreword Robert H. Frank Introduction Richard P.F. Holt and Daphne T. Greenwood Part 1: Recent History and Prospects for the American Standard of Living 1. Improving the Standard of Living: Income, Quality of Life, and Sustainability Daphne T. Greenwood and Richard P.F. Holt 2. Economic Well-Being in the United States: A Historical and Comparative Perspective Ajit Zacharias, Edward N. Wolff, Thomas Masterson, and Selcuk Eren 3. Measuring the Standard of Living: Quality of Life and Income Differences in the United States Thomas Michael Power 4. Achieving a Brighter Future from the Bottom Up: Activist Laissez-Faire Social Policy David Colander Part II: Lagging Incomes and the Middle-Class Dream 5. The Future of Middle-Class Jobs: Macroeconomic Effects and Shrinking Unions Paul J. Kozlowksi and Steven Spirn 6. Low-Paid Workers: The Minimum Wage and Employment in the United States and France David R. Howell, Bert M. Azizoglu, and Anna Okatenko 7. Opportunity and Mobility: The American Dream and the Standard of Living Daphne T. Greenwood and Richard P.F. Holt 8. Reducing Child Poverty in America: The Effects of a Paid Parental Leave Policy Steven Pressman and Robert H. Scott III Part III: Policies to Improve Quality of Life and Sustainability 9. Raising US Living Standards by Controlling Climate Change Robert Pollin 10. Food, the Environment, and a Good Standard of Living Emily Northrop 11. Improving the Standard of Living Through Investments in Intangible Capital John Tomer