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The Great Escape: Health, Wealth and the Origins of Inequality , Angus Deaton . Princeton University Press , 2013, xv + 360 pages.
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INTRODUCTION
In consideration of whether or not this is a good time in human history to be alive, we are faced with two observations. The first: overall, things seem to be much better. Human beings have never lived as long as they do now and economic prosperity is enjoyed by a greater number of individuals than ever before in recorded history. The second: our world today is a highly unequal one, where the country into which one is born can add or remove decades from one's life expectancy, and large proportions of the global population continue to die from illnesses from which other parts of the world have been free for decades. The engine of material progress that has resulted in unprecedented prosperity for many has also left many others behind, opening up large inequalities as portions of the human population secure a 'great escape' from poverty and low life expectancy.
Angus Deaton's book dissects this tension in fascinating detail, unpacking the relationship between progress and inequality with the use of data and historical analysis. Written in a highly accessible style and aimed at a lay audience, Deaton engages his reader across a wide terrain of issues, oftentimes in great detail, outlining the controversies surrounding the core empirical measurements that he discusses, including life expectancy, economic growth, poverty and purchasing power parity. For this reason, the core ideas of Deaton's book emerge more as a set of vignettes than a systematically defended conclusion.
Broadly, Deaton's argument is that the engines of progress in material and physical wellbeing inevitably create inequalities, but there are things we can do - specifically, there are approaches governments can adopt - to reduce the amount of time it takes for those left behind to close or narrow the gap. Deaton's assessment of our world today emphasizes two main points: (1) while there are increasing inequalities between countries and greater inequality within countries, overall when we look at the average individual worldwide and how they are faring, matters are much better; (2) there is no guarantee that current progress...