From the author of Day of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan’s economic policy (“Every citizen should read it,” said The New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that broadly distributed economic growth provides benefits far beyond the material, creating and strengthening democratic institutions, establishing political stability, fostering tolerance, and enhancing opportunity.

“Are we right,” Benjamin M. Friedman asks, “to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?” To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies—particularly of the United States since the Civil War—distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence.

《清算日》一书的作者对罗纳德·里根的经济政策提出了广受赞誉的批评（《纽约时报》说，“每个公民都应该读一下”）：这是一个有说服力的、广泛的论点，认为广泛分布的经济增长带来的好处远远超出了物质层面，创造和加强了民主制度，建立政治稳定，培养宽容，增加机会。
“我们说得对吗？”本杰明M。弗里德曼问道：“我们显然如此关注经济增长吗？”弗里德曼回答说，他超越了经济学。他考察了大型西方民主国家的政治和社会历史，特别是美国内战以来的政治和社会历史，区分了生活水平普遍提高和普遍停滞的时期，以说明收入增加如何使社会更加开放和民主。他还展示了我们对经济增长及其后果的态度如何植根于前几个世纪的思想，特别是启蒙运动，还包括重要的宗教影响。