Nobel Prize Winner Angus Deaton and US Human Rights

Princeton Professor Angus Deaton will receive the Nobel Prize for Economics in Stockholm on December 10.  While much of Deaton’s work has focused on the developing world (particularly India), putting a human face on issues such as malnutrition and lack of housing, Professor Deaton has also trained his view on the U.S. 

In this paper, from 2011, he analyzes health disparities in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Among other things, he concludes that “the recent concentration of wealth at the very top of the income distribution in the United States (and other English speaking countries) is a serious threat to well-being, through its possible long-term effects on health, education and democracy.” 

Perhaps we see this being played out in the world today.  Kudos to the Nobel Committee and to Professor Deaton for raising the level of discourse and analysis of this issue.