for middle- and upper-income parents, it is a matter of taste if one chooses to spend a substantial sum to send a child to an elite preschool, or to live in a neighborhood with an elite public school, or to send a child to an elite college. Given the child’s ability, such schooling decisions make relatively little difference at the margin.
The point of the essay is that long-term calculations of “the” real wage assume homogeneity of tastes.
I agree the the longer the period between two points in time, the harder it is to make meaningful comparisons with regards to ‘real purchasing power’. Even chaining does not get rid of thorny issues with hedonic improvements or changes in relative preferences and personal consumption expenditure mixes.
That being said, the comparisons can’t be completely impossible or worthless. What, to your knowledge, is the best we can do, and how good is it?