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Deaths of despair and the future of capitalism / Anne Case, Angus Deaton.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2020]Description: x, 312 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780691190785
  • 069119078X
Subject(s):
Contents:
The calm before the storm -- Things come apart -- Deaths of despair -- The lives and deaths of the more (and less) educated -- Black and white deaths -- The condition of the living -- The misery and mystery of pain -- Suicide, drugs, and alcohol -- Opioids -- False trails : poverty, income, and the Great Recession -- Growing apart at work -- Widening gaps at home -- How American healthcare is undermining lives -- Capitalism, immigrants, robots, and China -- Firms, consumers, and workers -- What to do?
Summary: "This book documents the decline of white-working class lives over the last half-century and examines the social and economic forces that have slowly made these lives more difficult. Case and Deaton argue that market and political power in the United States have moved away from labor towards capital-as unions have weakened and politics have become more favorable to business, corporations have become more powerful. Consolidation in some American industries, healthcare especially, has brought an increase in monopoly power in some product markets so that it is possible for firms to raise prices above what they would be in a freely competitive market. This, the authors argue, is a major cause of wage stagnation among working-class Americans and has played a substantial role in the increase in deaths of despair. Case and Deaton offer a way forward, including ideas that, even in our current political situation, may be feasible and improve lives"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 362.28 C337 Available 33111009639176
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A New York Times Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year
A New Statesman Book to Read

From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class

Life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen for three years in a row--a reversal not seen since 1918 or in any other wealthy nation in modern times. In the past two decades, deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism have risen dramatically, and now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives each year--and they're still rising. Anne Case and Angus Deaton, known for first sounding the alarm about deaths of despair, explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. They demonstrate why, for those who used to prosper in America, capitalism is no longer delivering.

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline. For the white working class, today's America has become a land of broken families and few prospects. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. In this critically important book, Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and, above all, to a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. Capitalism, which over two centuries lifted countless people out of poverty, is now destroying the lives of blue-collar America.

This book charts a way forward, providing solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The calm before the storm -- Things come apart -- Deaths of despair -- The lives and deaths of the more (and less) educated -- Black and white deaths -- The condition of the living -- The misery and mystery of pain -- Suicide, drugs, and alcohol -- Opioids -- False trails : poverty, income, and the Great Recession -- Growing apart at work -- Widening gaps at home -- How American healthcare is undermining lives -- Capitalism, immigrants, robots, and China -- Firms, consumers, and workers -- What to do?

"This book documents the decline of white-working class lives over the last half-century and examines the social and economic forces that have slowly made these lives more difficult. Case and Deaton argue that market and political power in the United States have moved away from labor towards capital-as unions have weakened and politics have become more favorable to business, corporations have become more powerful. Consolidation in some American industries, healthcare especially, has brought an increase in monopoly power in some product markets so that it is possible for firms to raise prices above what they would be in a freely competitive market. This, the authors argue, is a major cause of wage stagnation among working-class Americans and has played a substantial role in the increase in deaths of despair. Case and Deaton offer a way forward, including ideas that, even in our current political situation, may be feasible and improve lives"-- Provided by publisher.

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