Presto, Change-O: One Man's Luxury Turns Into The Same Man's Necessity

Economists have long puzzled over the fact that societies don’t seem to get happier as they get richer, beyond a level of comfortable subsistence. One theory is that we’re on a “hedonic treadmill,” quickly adapting to any new good thing in our lives and then taking it for granted. The theory gains indirect support from a Pew Research Center study on whether Americans regard certain things as luxuries or necessities.

You’ll get no points for guessing that the list of “things we can’t live without” has grown as people shift items from the luxury column into the ranks of necessities.