This paper is concerned with the theory of saving when consumers are not permitted to borrow, and with the ability of such a theory to account for some of the stylized facts of saving behavior. When consumers are relatively impatient, and when labor income is independently and identically...

I respond to Atkinson's plea to revive welfare economics, and to considering alternative ethical frameworks when making policy recommendations. I examine a measure of self-reported evaluative wellbeing, the Cantril Ladder, and use data from Gallup to examine wellbeing over the life-cycle. I...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: What This Book Is About -- 1. The Wellbeing of the World -- PART I. LIFE AND DEATH -- 2. From Prehistory to 1945 -- 3. Escaping Death in the Tropics -- 4. Health in the Modern World -- PART II. MONEY -- 5. Material Wellbeing in the United...