Many middle class patients gladly choose to take more frugal vacations or drive less expensive cars in order to enjoy this service.

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As skilled workers became wealthier and wealthier they would eat at more lavish establishments and take more luxurious vacations were they would be waited on and attended to by unskilled labor.

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If saving your life isn't enough of a reason to take a few vacations, here is another: People who take annual vacations are more productive.

CNN: Take your vacation, or die?

They now work much shorter hours than the Koreans and, with much longer vacations, take far more foreign trips.

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One study found that men at high risk for coronary heart disease, and who failed to take annual vacations, were 32% more susceptible to dying from a heart attack.

CNN: Take your vacation, or die?

Companies look at that buying and feel a little bit more confident that people will buy refrigerators and TVs and take vacations.

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In economic booms when money is flush, consumers are more apt to buy luxury cars and big TVs, eat beef rather than chicken and take pricey vacations, all of which lift the overall consumer prices.

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