Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism

　　自1918年以後，已開發國家的平均壽命逐漸延長，未曾減少過，然而這三年來，美國的平均壽命卻連年下降。在過去二十年中，死於自殺、藥物成癮以及酗酒的人數大幅增加，更有數據指出，美國每年有幾十萬人因此喪命，而且死亡人數還在持續攀升中。

　　凱斯和迪頓早已洞悉越來越多人會因內心空虛而危及生活，亦對於此現象別有見解，揭示何以工人階層越來越難在如今的社經環境下生存，又何以，曾經使美國繁盛的資本主義反成危害經濟的兇手。兩位知名經濟學家解釋了這些死亡人數激增的現象與成因：資本主義已不再有效。當受過大學教育的人們變得更加健康富裕，沒有學位的成年人卻因痛苦和絕望而垂死。

　　在本書中，凱斯和迪頓將勞資關係中勞工的弱勢地位與資方日益壯大的權力，以及失能的健保系統連結，帶我們看見曾讓無數人擺脫貧困的資本主義，如今正在摧毀藍領階級的生活，而我們應該如何改變這個現況。(文/博客來編譯)

　　From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class

　　Life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen for three years in a row―a reversal not seen since 1918 or in any other wealthy nation in modern times. In the past two decades, deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism have risen dramatically, and now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives each year―and they're still rising. Anne Case and Angus Deaton, known for first sounding the alarm about deaths of despair, explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. They demonstrate why, for those who used to prosper in America, capitalism is no longer delivering.

　　Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline. For the white working class, today's America has become a land of broken families and few prospects. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. In this critically important book, Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and, above all, to a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. Capitalism, which over two centuries lifted countless people out of poverty, is now destroying the lives of blue-collar America.

　　This book charts a way forward, providing solutions that can rein in capitalism’s excesses and make it work for everyone.