Off the books: the benefits of free enterprise that economic statistics miss.(Brief Article)

From: Reason | Date: August 1, 2002| Author: Cox, W. Michael; Alm, Richard | Copyright information

AMERICA'S CONSUMER CULTURE is all around us. It's along our highways, studded with shopping malls, fast food joints, and flashy neon signs. It's in our homes, filled with gadgets, furnishings, toys, and closets of clothes. It permeates the media, where ads tell us happiness and sex appeal are as close as the nearest store. It's even within us, at least to the extent that we tie status and identity to the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat.

That's our...

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