An argument I’ve repeatedly had with Tyler Cowen:

Tyler: We’re stagnating!

Bryan:
No we’re not.  You’re ignoring massive CPI bias.  We live in an age of consumption-biased technological change.  Official numbers don’t adequately adjust for quality improvements, and utterly ignore the mountains of free stuff we keep receiving.

Tyler: How massive?

Bryan:
Oh…  Say 1 percentage-point per year.

Tyler: You’re crazy.

I’m hoping EconLog readers can help us resolve our impasse.  How?  By keeping a time diary for a day or two.  For every waking hour of the day, ask yourself:

1. Was my experience during the last hour noticeably better as a result of an innovation introduced from 1990-present? [Yes/No]

2. Was my experience during the last hour noticeably better as a result of an innovation introduced from 1950-1989? [Yes/No]

Ideally you’ll record your judgments as you go, but chronologically reviewing your day hour-by-hour is a reasonable substitute.

Once you’re done, code “yes”=1 and “no”=0.  Then calculate your average scores, and report them on quicksurveys.

My predictions, assuming I get at least 100 responses:

1. The median response for question #1 will be at least .15.

2. The median response for question #2 will be no more than three times as high as the median response for question #1.

Feel free to share your general thoughts in the comments, but please post your results exclusively on the survey page.

P.S. To broaden the sample, please blog, Like, Tweet, etc.