by Donald J. Boudreaux
The American Institute for Economic Research
Material prosperity is unambiguously good. Prosperity protects us and our children from starvation and malnutrition. It turns many diseases and injuries that were once lethal into minor inconveniences. Prosperity gives us longer, healthier lives, and it fills those lives with experiences vastly more diverse and enriching than were the dreary routines of nearly all of our ancestors.
Ironically, however, the benefits of material prosperity sometimes create the widespread illusion that they are shrinking even though they are expanding.