logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2020
22m 59s

Angus Deaton: The cost of the 'deaths of...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

How do we judge the health of our economic systems? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the Nobel Prize winning economist Sir Angus Deaton who believes it’s about much more than the headline numbers on jobs and growth. He has focused on what he calls the deaths of despair – those attributed to suicide, drug and alcohol abuse – and concludes American capitalism is sick. Now, of course, coronavirus is having its own impact on mortality data. Does capitalism itself need emergency surgery?

Photo: 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Economics Angus Deaton Credit: AFP

Up next
Jul 6
Sir Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister: The UK needs strong international relationships
The UK needs strong international relationships Nick Robinson, presenter of the BBC Today programme and Political Thinking podcast, speaks to Sir Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister, about the importance of maintaining strong international relationships.In an interview recorded to ma ... Show More
22m 59s
Jul 1
Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister: Regime change is a futile exercise
Lyse Doucet speaks to Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, about the future of Iran’s nuclear programme and its government. The interview took place in the country’s capital Tehran after Iran’s twelve-day war with Israel. Both sides fired missiles into each other ... Show More
22m 59s
Jun 29
Philippe Kehren, CEO of multinational Solvay: Reducing reliance on China’s rare earth metals
Jonathan Josephs speaks to Philippe Kehren, CEO of chemical multinational company Solvay. His firm sits at the forefront of Europe’s efforts to diversify its supply of rare earth metals. These elements are essential to much of modern technology, from mobile phones to medical equi ... Show More
22m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Angus Deaton: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality
Economics Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton discusses his latest book, Economics in America, which takes an autobiographical approach to how the field of economics addresses the most pressing issues of our time—from poverty, retirement, and the minimum wage to the ravages of the na ... Show More
1h 7m
Nov 2023
Exploring American Inequality (with Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton)
No matter which indicator you’re using, American inequality has been increasing in recent decades. Whether you’re measuring the growing wealth gap, the stagnant wages of the middle class, or the concentration of wealth and power among a small group of elites, every indicator unfa ... Show More
44m 42s
Dec 2017
Surveillance: White House Would Love to Get Rid of the AMT Rate, Cohn Says
Willem Buiter, Citigroup Global Chief Economist, says he would not give the GOP tax package particularly high marks. Alan Krueger, Princeton University Economics Professor, says the opioid crisis is a result of American medical practices and the government can do more to aid it. ... Show More
37m 44s
Feb 2022
What the Heck Is Going on With the U.S. Economy?
Should we be celebrating a Biden boom? Lamenting inflation and its consequences? Both?We know how to talk about booms, like the ’90s. We know how to talk about busts, like after the financial crisis. We know how to talk about stagnation. What we don’t know how to talk about is co ... Show More
1 h
Oct 2022
What is economic growth and why does it matter?
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has this week downgraded its forecast for global growth warning “the worst is yet to come and, for many people 2023 will feel like a recession”. The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased inflation, forced central banks to ra ... Show More
49m 7s
Mar 2022
Can the UK ever be a low tax economy again?
As tax rises hit pay packets next month is this an end to traditional Conservative low tax policy? The UK government has so far defied calls from across the political spectrum to shelve the planned 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance, despite millions of households grapp ... Show More
28m 9s
Jun 2024
The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad
There’s something weird happening with the economy. On a personal level, most Americans say they’re doing pretty well right now. And according to the data, that’s true. Wages have gone up faster than inflation. Unemployment is low, the stock market is generally up so far this yea ... Show More
1h 31m
Oct 2022
Why won't trickle-down die? (with Mark Blyth)
While President Biden has embraced middle-out economics here in the states, the UK’s new leaders have decided to enthusiastically revive trickle-down economics. Political economist Mark Blyth, who teaches International Economics, shares his thoughts on the United Kingdom’s troubl ... Show More
38m 40s
Apr 2020
Black Swan
Breaking news Wisconsin has delayed its primary election. The US Army took an assessment in February that predicted hundreds of thousands of Americans could die from Coronavirus in a worst-case scenario. Surgeon General vice-admiral Jerome Adams states that the next two weeks wil ... Show More
1h 14m