Foreword

1 Introduction: Comparisons and the Triple Approach to Well-Being
1.1 Economic Growth, Consumption, and Quality of Life in Comparative Research
1.2 The Aims and Scope of Research
1.3 Methods and Sources
1.4 The Structure of the Volume

2 Economic Growth: Catching Up and Falling Behind
2.1 Measuring Economic Output
2.2 Trends and Stages of Growth in Western Europe
2.3 Trajectories of Growth in East Central Europe

3 Consumption: Structures, Practices, and Policies
3.1 Changing Consumption Patterns in Western Europe
3.2 Consumption in Communist East Central Europe

4 Quality of Life: Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of Well-Being
4.1 Conceptual and Methodological Issues
4.2 Trajectories of Well-Being in Western Europe
4.3 The Quality of Life in East Central Europe

5 Determinants of Change: Accounting for Growth and Beyond
5.1 Factors of Economic Growth
5.2 Determinants of the Quality of Life
5.3 Causes of Convergence and Divergence

6 Passages to the New Millennium: The Evolving Order of Divisions
6.1 Economic Growth in Western Europe at the Turn of the Millennium: Changes in the Quality of Life
6.2 East Central Europe after the Regime Change: Economic Transformation, Consumer Aspirations, and the Pursuit of Well-Being

7 Conclusions: Lessons of the Triple Approach

Appendix
Bibliography
List of tables and figures
Index