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Income inequality, health, & QOL

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  • Income inequality, health, & QOL

    Below is info about a presentation (in Wash. DC), book, but most intriging - a very compelling set of PP slides (be sure to check them out!).
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    Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better

    Tuesday, January 19, 2010

    10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

    Where in the developed world do people live the longest? Where do people born at the bottom of the economic ladder have the best shot at climbing up? In which nations do children do best in school? Which countries send the most people to prison; have the teenage pregnancies and suffer the most homicides? The answers matter and are indicative of a society's overall health and the quality of life for its citizens. That is the contention of eminent British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, authors of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.

    The nations that do the best, on yardstick after yardstick, all turn out to share one basic trait. They all have less income and wealth inequality than their peer nations. The United States, the most unequal nation in Wilkinson and Pickett's book, ranks at or near the bottom of every indicator studied. They applied the same methodology to a study of each of the fifty states in US and again find that social well-being is higher in states with less income and wealth inequality.

    The consequences of this work are far reaching. Can inequality, customarily viewed through the lens of taking away from the haves to give to the have nots, actually be the problem policymakers address in improving America's health, social and economic outcomes?

    Join us January 19, the morning after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, as Wilkinson and Pickett are joined by Barbara Ehrenreich and Harry Holzer to discuss this important new work.

    [RSVP here.]

    Interested in getting more of what Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have to offer? Check out the Equality Trust, and click here for a U.S. review of The Spirit Level.

    Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

    Presenters

    Richard Wilkinson has played a formative role in international research and his work has been published in 10 languages. He studied economic history at the London School of Economics before training in epidemiology and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham Medical School and Honorary Professor at University College London.

    Kate Pickett is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist. She studied physical anthropology at Cambridge, nutritional sciences at Cornell and epidemiology at Berkeley before spending four years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago.

    Discussants

    Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed. A frequent contributor to the New York Times, Harpers, and the Progressive, she is a contributing writer to Time magazine. She lives in Florida.

    Harry Holzer is a Professor of Public Policy at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and serves as a Fellow at several prestigious research and academic institutions. Prior to coming to Georgetown, Professor Holzer served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor. Over most of his career, Professor Holzer's research has focused primarily on the low-wage labor market, and particularly the problems of minority workers in urban areas.


    Location:
    Economic Policy Institute, 1333 H Street NW, Suite 300 East Tower, Washington DC
    (Near McPherson Square Metro (Orange/Blue lines) and Metro Center (Red line))

    Space is limited, please RSVP here to attend this event.

    For more information, email events@epi.org.

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    VERY GOOD Powerpoint: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/slides

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    "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

  • #2
    Re: Income inequlity, health, & QOL

    Which US state ha the most equal distribution of wealth and income ? Where are most inequality seen ?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Income inequlity, health, & QOL

      Originally posted by Celvin11 View Post
      Which US state ha the most equal distribution of wealth and income ? Where are most inequality seen ?
      According to slide #9, the US state with the most income inequality is New York. The state with the most income equality is Alaska - however I can assure you that Alaska has a fair amount of low income families in addition to the many with comfortable incomes. It could be that while Alaska has many good paying jobs, we may have a far lower number of millionaires and billionaires.

      There was a recent US news report on which states had the happiest residents and Alaska was the 12th happiest. Actually, many of the states with more income equality topped the happiest list. That could be an example of how income equality makes happier communities.

      Based on the info presented, the best countries to live in are Japan and the Scandinavian countries.

      The PP presentation is based on information by country and by US state. It really is an interesting read. Some excerpts:

      Slide #7:
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      Slide #9:
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      "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

      Comment

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