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  3. 　　Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago? 　　In their thirst for evidence on this

　　Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago? 　　In their thirst for evidence on this

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问题 　　Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago?
　　In their thirst for evidence on this issue, commentators seized on the recent report by the Census Bureau, which found that average household income rose by 5.2% in 2015.Unfortunately, that conclusion puts too much weight on a useful, but flawed and incomplete, statistic. Among the more significant problems with the Census’s measure are that: 1) it excludes taxes, transfers, and compensation like employer-provided health insurance; and 2) it is based on surveys rather than data. Even if precisely measured, income data exclude important determinants of economic well-being, such as the hours of work needed to earn that income.
　　While thinking about the question, we came across a recently published article by Charles Jones and Peter Klenow, which proposes an interesting new measure of economic welfare. While by no means perfect, it is considerably more comprehensive than average income, taking into account not only growth in consumption per person but also changes in working time, life expectancy, and inequality. Moreover, it can be used to assess economic performance both across countries and over time.
　　The Jones - Klenow method can be illustrated by a cross - country example. Suppose we want to compare the economic welfare of citizens of the U.S. and France in 2005.
　　In 2005, as the authors observe. real consumption per person in France was only 60% as high as the U.S., making it appear that Americans were economically much better off than the French on average. However, that comparison omits other relevant factors: leisure time, life expectancy, and economic inequality. The French take longer vacations and retire earlier, so typically work fewer hours; they enjoy a higher life expectancy, presumably reflecting advantages with respect to health care, diet, lifestyle, and the like; and income and consumption are somewhat more equally distributed there than in the U.S. Because of these differences, comparing France’s consumption with the U.S.’s overstates the gap in economic welfare.
　　Similar calculations can be used to compare the U. S. and other countries. For example, this calculation puts economic welfare in the United Kingdom at 97% of U.S. levels, but estimates Mexican well-being at 22%.
　　The Jones-Klenow measure can also assess an economy’s performance over time. According to this measure, as of the early - to - mid - 2000s, the U.S. had the highest economic welfare of any large country. Since 2007, economic welfare in the U.S. has continued to improve. However, the pace of improvement has slowed markedly.
　　Methodologically, the lesson from the Jones - Klenow research is that economic welfare is multi -dimensional. Their approach is flexible enough that in principle other important quality-of-life changes could be incorporated-for example, decreases in total emissions of pollutants and declines in crime rates.
What can we infer from the passage about American people’s economic well-being?
选项 A、It is much better than that of their European counterparts.
B、It has been on the decline ever since the turn of the century.
C、It has not improved as much as reported by the Census Bureau.
D、It has not been accurately assessed and reported since mid-2000s.
答案C
解析 考查细节推理题。根据文中第七段“as of the early-to-mid-2000s，the U．S had the highest economic welfare of any large country．Since 2007， …the pace of improvement has slowed markedly．”可知，到2000年代中期为止，美国比任何大国的经济福利都要高。但自2007年以来，美国的经济福利持续改善。不过，改善步伐明显放缓。据此可知，美国的经济福利虽然一直在改善，但改善得并不大，因此，C项正确。A项不准确，美国在2000年代中期之前，福利比欧洲要好。B项不准确，美国人民的经济福利一直在提高，并没有走下坡路。D项文中并未提及，排除。故本题选C。
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