10 things I learned from "Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism" by Anne Case and Angus Deaton
This book was written in the US, about the US, before the pandemic. Another great AI image creation (instant generate)
1. 3 causes: Suicide, drug addiction, and alcoholism
According to the authors mostly among white middle class people without a college degree. These were the focus of this book which was written about the United States.
I would also include deaths from diabetes here because for most people with type two diabetes, they have some form of food addiction. Also many heat attacks and strokes are directly attributable to drug problems.
2. What is Rent seeking?
Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth
I did not know what this meant and had to look it up. Their point is that wealthy people/corporations use the power of government regulation to increase their wealth without actually adding anything useful to society. They gave the example of pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare companies. I think they are on to something here. The government helps create an economic moat around these companies and also helps them make extraordinary profits.
3. The premise is that this primarily affects people without a college degree
If true, this is a wrinkle to the "go to college" debate. The authors are very consistent that this is an epidemic specifically affecting white middle aged people without a college degree.
4. Things get worse for middle aged people because of stresses at this time of life
Middle age people are likely to have teenagers and aging parents at the same time. It is also a time that you may not be where you hoped you wanted to be in your career and some people without in demand skills start to have a hard time finding a job when they need it the most.
5. The question “are you in pain” is an indicator of problems in life
There is a huge growth in pain, both physical and mental in middle age, especially among the lower educated. Less pain for people with a bachelor's degree. People with less education are more likely to be in pain in middle age because of physical labor, poor nutrition, dental problems, obesity, gout, skin conditions, and also mental health stress.
6. Working class wages have done worse than stagnating: the real wages have gone down compared to the CPI
7. As cars and phones get better and more expensive they are more out of reach for someone that could have bought these things a decade ago
Compare the prices of an iPhone or Ford F150.
8. Community support, like membership in a trade union, is affected by the network effects
Basically, if there are fewer people in a workers union in an area that that union loses its appeal, and it also its bargaining power. When union memberships drop the value the union declines, and it is a compounding problem.
The same thing can be said for churches, little leagues, and other community organizations. As participation drops there is a downward spiral.
9. Religion is more popular in places where it is hard to live
The authors point was that religions are frequently popular in parts of the world where it is difficult to live and religion offer some hope. In general, as countries become more developed, the state will overtake a lot of the roles that religion serves in parts of the world that are harder to live in. Examples of less religious societies would be Western Europe in the United States. More religious societies would be, at the extremes, hunter gatherer societies were the spectrum in between.
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