Why did the Census measure miss the growth of income actually experienced by individuals? An analogy may help explain. Suppose you measured the height of all the students in an elementary school and found that they averaged fifty inches tall. The next year you go back and measure the students’ height in the same school and find that the average is still fifty inches. You would not conclude that none of the students had grown because you know that after a year of growth, the fifth graders moved on to middle school, fourth graders with their year of growth were promoted to fifth grade, and new
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