Life Improvements Since the 1990s
gwern.net
Life Improvements Since the 1990s
1–10 of 480 posts
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#2This note at the bottom, about high mortality rates in the past, is always striking to remember:
"My grandmother casually horrified us a few years ago by going through the list of her dead siblings: 2 died on the farm of ‘summer diarrhea’ (bovine tuberculosis from unpasteurized milk) as infants, an unremarkable fate in the area, and then 3 died in their teens–20s after moving to the city to work in textile factories. The rest died later. For comparison, she lost 1 child out of 5 (stillbirth), and 0% of her >12 grandchildren/great-grandchildren."
Several years ago an older friend of mine recounted to me that his father was one of three siblings to survive the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920, six of his brothers and sisters died from it.
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#3More of a criticism of the Harvard Innovation Lab photo than the article, but the "1980's" desktop computer pictured is a rough facsimile of the Macintosh Classic released October 15, 1990. This machine represented the one of the first products produced by the Apple Industrial Design Group which had replaced the iconic '80s Snow White design from Frog Design.
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#4With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated.
That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if this still holds up in a decade or two.
[0] https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cpi2020.png?x...
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#5With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated. That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if th…
Average hourly wages have, but what about the median?
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#6I like how the EU is listed under technology.
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#7With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated. That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if th…
Average hourly wages have, but what about the median?
I do not understand why averages are so often used rather than deciles or even quintiles.
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#8Great we're doing better however I notice most of these are benefits experienced by the middle class and up. How about we do better and also give a leg up for the those in poverty? Even if Macdonalds is serving healthier food, I wouldn't pat ourselves on the back quite yet.
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#9With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated. That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if th…
> This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated.
Real people need to pay for tuition/childcare, housing, and healthcare, so what would be the point of excluding those from the calculation of real income?
Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s
#10With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated. That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if th…
Well you can’t remove things and then say “See, inflation is fine!”
If you want uneducated children with no healthcare and no affordable place to live I guess things are fine, and that’s pretty much what we see now.