T A B L E__T A L K When supposed safeguards wreak havoc: Readers discuss the pros and cons of rent control in the Business and Personal Finance area of Table Talk   Search for business, personal finance and more at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author   R E C E N T L Y Van Gogh Inc. By Larry Kanter You've seen the paintings. Now buy the lunch box (02/12/99) House flash By Heather Chaplin If you're struck with the biological urge to own a home, consider first whether it's a good time to buy (02/05/98) The Jordan Effect: What's race got to do with it? By Leon Wynter The colorblind world depicted by Madison Avenue isn't our racial reality yet -- but it's a step in the right direction (01/29/99) E-commerce: Don't believe the hype By Heather Chaplin Online shopping leaves me frustrated, bored and feeling like a schmo (01/22/98) Help! I have portfolio deficit disorder! By Daren Fonda My life fell apart after I discovered I could my check my stock's earnings and losses online -- whenever I wanted (01/15/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Reluctant Capitalist archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Salon Columnists		[ T H E_.R E L U C T A N T_.C A P I T A L I S T ]________   -----Epidemic of extravagance Economist Robert H. Frank has written a painstakingly researched new book offering a cure to our destructive love of luxury, but will anybody listen? ------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LUXURY FEVER : WHY MONEY FAILS TO SATISFY IN AN ERA OF EXCESS | BY ROBERT H. FRANK | FREE PRESS | 336 PAGES ------ BY HEATHER CHAPLIN Should we be concerned about the existence of a waiting list for a watch that costs $44,500? Scandalized that more than 20 boats marked $18 million each sold out in five days at a recent Fort Lauderdale, Fla., boat show? Upset about the fact that total household debt grew to 81 percent of disposable income in 1995? Considering $44,000 is more than the average full-time worker earns in a year, $18 million is far more than most families will earn in a lifetime and the personal bankruptcy rate is at an all-time high, I'm comfortable being worried about all those things without any further discussion. But let's suppose none of the above strike you as problematic. Well, then, what if someone convinced you that all those expensive playthings and all that debt don't make us happier? That's the premise of "Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess," a new book by Cornell University economist Robert H. Frank, coauthor of "The Winner-Take-All Society." Despite the sound of the title and the look of the cover, Frank's book is not some New-Agey prescription for how to find meaning in a materialistic world. Nor is it an ideologically driven diatribe on how bad we all are for being such piggies. Rather, it's an in-depth, study-driven exploration of why we've gone luxury wild and a pragmatic examination of the dangers in not reigning in our extravagant ways. Ultimately, it's a proposal for a remedy in the form of a progressive consumption tax. The linchpin of the book is wrought from numerous studies indicating that despite our growing wealth as a nation, individually we're no happier than we were a generation ago. U.S. per-capita income went up 39 percent between 1972 and 1991, but the proportion of people who described themselves as happy declined over the same period, Frank says. There are similar figures for Japan, another country that has (until recently) reaped the benefits of a booming economy and a lavish culture of consumption. There's nothing new about the idea that money doesn't buy happiness, but that's not quite the conclusion Frank draws. Rather, he reasons that a certain amount of material wealth does increase individual satisfaction -- say, moving from third world to middle-class status -- but after a certain point the correlation between riches and happiness dwindles. "Behavioral scientist have found persuasive evidence that once a threshold level of affluence is achieved," Frank writes, "the average life-satisfaction level in any country is essentially independent of its per-capita income." N E X T+P A G E | The unbearable sameness of lottery winners - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.