“DEATHS OF DESPAIR” IN WHITES: IS IT DUE TO NO COLLEGE DEGREE?—OR NO JOB?

 

Deaths of Despair in Young Whites—Related to Communities of Despair—-Offshoring and Outsourcing Jobs

Princeton economists Deaton and Case study Death in America (rf: 2020 publication, 9/28/2023  Brookings presentation). 

The authors  have recently (9/28/23) presented new data at a Brookings Institute seminar where they presented a shocking graph showing a close correlation of high death rates in young men without college degrees vs those with a college degree. They term these “deaths of despair” in young white men (who die by opioids, suicide, cirrhosis)as compared to the lives of those with a college education. Their conclusion: those with college degrees live longer. 

 However, correlation does not prove causation. The authors blithely ignore the great swath of middle America, where from the 1970s to the present, tens of millions of factory jobs were lost when whole industries  were offshored to China. The vast swath of hollowed out “communities of despair” had a devastating and visible demonstrable impact on young working class Americans of those communities. No need for guasi-scientific graphs or questionable conclusions of cause. There is no doubt, idleness, depression, poverty, despair naturally lead to higher mortality rates.  

These two talented Princeton economists might be well served to get out of their oak paneled offices with whirring computers and visit these devastated communities where factories sit idle, main streets are empty, and the smell of rotting wood mixed with ganja smoke predominates.  The authors should analyze those data. An put the blame where it belongs.  Government policies which favor corporate greed and globalization over what is best for the USA and its struggling citizenry.