Deaths of Despair

Life expectancy is falling in America. That’s not supposed to happen in a developed country like ours – and it wasn’t happening until about twenty years ago. But not all Americans are dying younger. Mainly it’s middle-aged white people dying of what Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have dubbed “deaths of despair.” Case and Deaton are authors of the book “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism.” (Originally aired Mar 25, 2020).