Recounts the development of the modern department store in late nineteenth-century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family; it is emblematic of consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century. Octave Mouret, the store's owner-manager, masterfully exploits the desires of his female customers. In his private life as much as in business...

Discusses the fairness and economic consequences of taxation of individual income, the possible improvement of income tax through exclusions and deductions, more effective taxation of capital gains, and revision of personal exemptions and rates.