Each time I go directly from Kansas City, Mo./Kan. to Portland, OR — or from Portland, Ore. to Kansas City, Kan./Mo. — I am struck by cognitive dissonance. There is a very large gulf between what I see around me and what, say, the charts people put up on the screen for relative levels of real … Continue reading »
living standard
Economic equality, 1774 and beyond
Economic historians studying early America remind one of archaeologists studying prehistoric civilizations. Instead of piecing together pot shards and bone splinters to help imagine cultural practices many millenia ago, the historians piece together fragments of tax records, tattered business ledgers, town regulations, and a few partial censuses (and sometimes pot shards and bones, as well) … Continue reading »