How do we Solve the Problem of Inequality in America? Angus Deaton

In a wide-raging discussion to mark the publication of Economics in America and the start of Festival of Economics, Deaton discusses with Bristol Ideas’ Andrew Kelly deaths of despair and what’s happening in the UK; the importance of higher education and college degrees; writing about economists; economists and climate change; inequality and health in the US; economic growth; trying to improve mobility and alleviate poverty; the role of cities; what the inflation reduction act has delivered; democracy and populism; and pre-distribution. 

Since the interview, Anne Case and Angus Deaton have launched their research work on life expectancy and college education. In The New York Times they wrote:

What the economic statistics obscure in the averages is that there is not one but two Americas — and a clear line demarcating the division is educational attainment. Americans with four-year college degrees are flourishing economically, while those without are struggling…Worse still, as we discovered in new research, the America of those without college degrees has been scarred by death and staggeringly shorter life spans.

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Read their paper and presentation here.

Buy Angus Deaton’s Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality now from Bookshop.org.

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Sir Angus Deaton is the Dwight D Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus and Senior Scholar at Princeton University.

View Angus ’s profile

Andrew Kelly is Director, Bristol Ideas. He is a visiting professor at the University of the West of England and has written or edited 20 books on subjects ranging from film and cinema to aviation and Bristol’s rich cultural history.

View Andrew’s profile