Material prosperity comes in two forms.

One is the type where wages go up; this type is obvious and easy to measure. It's the stuff of minimum wage hikes.

The other is where wages stay the same, but prices drop. This kind is harder to measure but just as real as the other type.

I've always been fascinated by making prices fall—access—even though our political processes seem to favor the type that raises wages. I think wage hikes are easier and more obvious. But falling prices make people better off, too.