单项选择题

Midway through the first decade of the 21st century, economic growth is pulling millions out of poverty. Growth, so devoutly desired yet often so elusive for developing countries, is occurring in China and India on a heroic scale. Yet once affluence is achieved, its value is often questioned. In the l960s and 1970s, economists started worrying about environmental and social limits to growth. Now Avner Offer, professor of economic history at Oxford University, has added a weighty new critique to this tradition.
"The Challenge of Affluence" accepts that the populations of poor countries gain from growth, but says that the main benefits of prosperity are achieved at quite modest levels. Its central thesis is that rising living standards in Britain and America have engendered impatience, which undermines well-being. The fruits of affluence are bitter ones, and include addiction, obesity, family breakdown and mental disorders.
The claim is as ambitious as it is pessimistic. Professor Offer, who has an unorthodox academic background (before embarking on his academic career he worked as a soldier, farmer and conservation worker in his native Israel), is unafraid to challenge economic orthodoxy. He gives short shrift to the rational decision-makers of economic models, arguing that consumers are myopic creatures easily tempted by the lures of immediate satisfaction. As societies become wealthier, traditions and institutions that bolster commitment and far-sighted behavior are eroded. Individuals increasingly live for today rather than tomorrow. Prudence may have built up affluence, but affluence is no friend of prudence.
Professor Offer buttresses his theoretical challenge with a large casebook from America and Britain. Drug addiction, which "shows how choice is fallible" is widespread. Obesity rates have risen alarmingly, in large measure because of the availability of fast food. The swift adoption of television in American homes after the Second World War is contrasted with the slower spread of appliances like dishwashers. This, he says, shows consumers" preference for time-using devices of "sensual arousal" over time-saving investments around the home. Falling saving rates, rising divorce figures and much else besides are yoked to the argument.
The book fails to convince, however, both in its challenge to mainstream economics and in its interpretation of the historical evidence. Choices may multiply with the growth of affluence, but there is nothing new in the tension between impatience and prudence. Behavioral economics is now helping to explain the common tendency to procrastinate over decisions such as joining retirement saving plans that would be in individuals" long-term interest. However, this body of work is best understood as a set of exceptions that modifies but leaves intact the canonical model of rational choice, not least since it is irrational to suppose that people in general behave irrationally.
Furthermore, there is little reason to believe—and scant evidence to support—the notion that behavior becomes more myopic as societies get richer. Rather, individuals face new and difficult challenges that they succeed, by and large, in meeting. One example is rising enrolment in higher education. By choosing to study rather than to work, students are sacrificing short-term income and greater consumption in order to secure higher living standards in the future.
Another example of far-sighted behaviour and self-control is the investment that people make in their own health by adopting new lifestyles. Despite the addictiveness of nicotine, the prevalence of smoking has plunged as consumers have become better informed about its risks. Individuals are also investing in their health through more exercise and better diet. Fast-food chains have stumbled as more and more consumers reject unhealthy meals. Obesity rates among American women have stabilised, an early sign of a turning-point in the great fattening of society.
Professor Offer"s broader message of gloom and foreboding is unwarranted. Measures indicating that well-being stalls beyond a certain modest level of affluence take no account of rising expectations, which are a virtue in themselves. Not only is prosperity welcome in itself but it contributes to rising life expectancy, another extraordinary boon, not least because prosperity brings with it improved health care, Equally important, it extends horizons and widens opportunities for more and more people. Affluence may present new challenges but they are a lot better than the alternative. The expression "The claim is as ambitious as it is pessimistic." can be best paraphrased as which of the following