Thursday, June 28, 2007
Frankly confused
It is easy to get confused by the publication of two recent books by authors called Robert Frank on the subject of wealth and inequality in America. Robert H Frank, a professor of economics at Cornell in New York state, has written a book called Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class (University of California Press). Robert L Frank, a journalist on the Wall Street Journal, has penned Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich (Crown).
Robert H Frank is a journalistically sharper version of Britain’s Professor Richard Layard. Like Layard he has impressive academic credentials, including having co-written a book with Ben Bernanke, now chairman of America’s Federal Reserve. And like Layard he prefers happiness to economic growth in the developed world - although he was several years ahead of Layard in writing a book on the subject. He is also a far more engaging writer than his dreary British counterpart.
This week Falling Behind was favourably cited by Madeleine Bunting in a comment article in the Guardian. No doubt it will be mentioned many more times in the coming weeks.
Strangely Bunting refers to the other Robert Frank in the same article without mentioning him by name. But an extract of his book on “Richistan” was published in the Sunday Times while it was also reviewed in today’s Financial Times.
Robert H Frank is a journalistically sharper version of Britain’s Professor Richard Layard. Like Layard he has impressive academic credentials, including having co-written a book with Ben Bernanke, now chairman of America’s Federal Reserve. And like Layard he prefers happiness to economic growth in the developed world - although he was several years ahead of Layard in writing a book on the subject. He is also a far more engaging writer than his dreary British counterpart.
This week Falling Behind was favourably cited by Madeleine Bunting in a comment article in the Guardian. No doubt it will be mentioned many more times in the coming weeks.
Strangely Bunting refers to the other Robert Frank in the same article without mentioning him by name. But an extract of his book on “Richistan” was published in the Sunday Times while it was also reviewed in today’s Financial Times.
Labels: America, book, happiness, inequality
