Monday, July 17, 2017

Thirsters Communication

*THIRSTER SEMINAR - WHITE MORTALITY - PETER MILLER  JULY 20th 2017

Dear Thirsters in Residence:

On Thursday July 20th, Thirster Peter Miller will lead a seminar on
Increasing White Mortality from "Diseases of Despair", 1998 - 2017.

In 2015, Case and Deaton (see link below) noted in US data that mortality
among US non-Hispanic whites from drug and alcohol overdoses, suicides, and
alcohol-related liver disease, rose strikingly, particularly for those in
middle age with not more than high school education.  Meanwhile, mortality
from blacks and Hispanics continued their historic fall, as did mortality in
Europe.  This finding drew a great deal of commentary.  Recently Case and
Deaton presented an expanded version of this paper to a Brookings
Institution conference, showing that (a) this finding is remarkably
consistent by gender, region, residence, etc., and (b) this mortality from
"diseases of despair" is sufficient to cause an increase in white mortality
generally.  This finding does not seem to be attributable to concomitant
patterns of income distribution.   While the reason is not clear, they
suggest a direction to look for a clearer answer.   It seems likely that
issues of employment, income, culture, religion, politics, and other factors
are probably relevant to the discussion.  In this seminar, I'd like to
discuss possible factors involved, and implications for policy and future
directions.

TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SEMINAR:  Please read the excerpts from Case and
Deaton's latest paper that is available for download using the Dropbox link
below (and the whole paper, if you have time).  If you can't get to it,
you're obviously welcome to attend, but I'd like to limit the first 45
minutes or so of the Seminar to those who've read the paper.  After that,
we'll open the discussion to those who haven't done the reading.  I look
forward to seeing you.

Link to the Case and Deaton info:

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION TOPICS:
        July 27th - Update on the Afghan Agony - Zaher Wahab

THIRSTER MEETING LOCATION:  MCMENAMINS BROADWAY PUB, 1504 NE BROADWAY (AT NE
15TH AVE), PORTLAND, OR 97232.
related to culture.

John Dougherty
Co-Coordinator
Semper Sitiens

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