Some observers think we are facing similar questions today. Economist Juliet Schor's 1991 book The Overworked American claimed that Americans are working more but enjoying it less. Schor's thesis was that the never-ending cycle of consumerism in which happiness is defined as satisfying consumer wants and in which the economy required an expanding pool of unfulfilled wants (how else would the economy continue to grow?) means that people are working more but enjoying life less.