The death rate among middle-aged white Americans has soared in recent years, driven byan epidemic of prescription drug overdoses, as well as rising liver disease and suicide, according to a new report from economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton at Princeton University.
The report has generated a heavy flurry of coverage due to the shocking nature of its finding—that amid a world of improving medical care, the death rate of a major demographic group is surging, due to overdoses from opioids and other prescription painkillers.
Perhaps because of their economics background, Ms. Case and Mr. Deaton theorized that this overdose epidemic may be tied—at least in part—to “economic insecurity.” This claim is hard to establish but, seeing how Mr. Deaton won the Nobel Prize in economics less than a month ago, worth considering in detail.
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