ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an exhaustive and empirically based review of the possible causes of the notable growth in wage inequality evident in the US labor market through the 1980s and 1990s. It utilizes telephone surveys and in-depth interviews to map the dimensions, motives, and economic consequences of downshifting. The book also provides a fascinating survey of the application of yet another economic methodology-game theory and behavioral experimentation-to the analysis of evolving public attitudes toward welfare and other wage-replacing or wage-supplementing social programs. It presents two modem attempts to address issues in the macroeconomic realm-such as aggregate demand or full employment policies-from a perspective that admits the importance of social conflict and the institutions that mediate that conflict. The book also presents a more concrete, empirically grounded exploration of the impacts of social structures on macroeconomic functions.
