Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
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Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism

By Angus Deaton, Anne CaseNarrated by Kate Harper
Length11h 48m

About this audiobook

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 This audiobook narrated by Kate Harper reveals how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class, and includes an introduction and preface read by the authors themselves—economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton 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.

Audiobook details

GenreBusiness and Economics, Health and Wellness
Length11 hrs 48 mins
Narrated byKate Harper
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMar 17, 2020
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Opening Anno, Dedication, Preface to the Paperback, Preface
11Chapter 9 - Opioids
2Introduction: Death in the Afternoon
12Part 3, What's the Economy Got to Do With It? Chapter 10 - False Trails: Poverty, Income, and the Great Recession
3Part 1, Past as Prologue, Chapter 1 - The Calm Before the Storm
13Chapter 11 - Growing Apart at Work
4Chapter 2 - Things Come Apart
14Chapter 12 - Widening Gaps at Home
5Chapter 3 - Deaths of Despair
15Part 4, Why is Capitalism Failing So Many? - Chapter 13 - How American Healthcare is Undermining Lives
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6Part 2, The Anatomy of the Battlefield - Chapter 4 - The Lives and Deaths of the More (and Less) Educated
16Chapter 14 - Capitalism, Immigrants, Robots, and China
7Chapter 5 - Black and White Deaths
17Chapter 15 - Firms, Consumers, and Workers
8Chapter 6 - The Health of the Living
18Chapter 16 - What to Do?
9Chapter 7 - The Misery and Mystery of Pain
19Acknowledgements, Closing Anno
10Chapter 8 - Suicide, Drugs, and Alcohol

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