The social effects of recession

David Brooks has a typically masterful column in the New York Times this morning on the social consequences of recessions. His warning about the possible impact on people’s perceptions of democracy and the market system in developing countries are particularly worth paying attention to. But it was this statistic about the US that jumped out at me:

“The recession of the 1970s produced a cynicism that has never really gone away. The share of students who admitted to cheating jumped from 34 percent in 1969 to 60 percent a decade later.”