Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism is a New York Times Bestseller, a Wall Street Journal Bestseller, and a New York Times Notable Book of 2020. It was also a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year. Additionally, it is recognised as a New Statesman Book to Read.

Authored by economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, this groundbreaking account examines how the flaws in capitalism are proving fatal for America's working class.

Deaths of despair, stemming from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism, are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton delve into the overwhelming surge in these deaths and explore the social and economic forces that are making life increasingly difficult for the working class.

As those with a college education become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton attribute this crisis to the weakening position of labour, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious healthcare sector that redirects working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy.

This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, while also providing solutions that aim to rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.