death of despair

English

Etymology

Popularized by the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton in the context of their analysis of US capitalism.

Noun

death of despair (plural deaths of despair)

  1. Death resulting from a disease of despair.
    • 2018 June 8, Sarah Zhang, “More Americans Are Dying By Suicide”, in The Atlantic‎[1], archived from the original on 13 July 2018:
      The economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have called suicides as well as drug and alcohol-related deaths “deaths of despair.” Much of the conversation around deaths of despair has centered on middle-aged white Americans without college degrees, who have been dying in greater numbers. But the rising suicide rate in nearly all populations in the U.S. suggests that this is a public health problem facing the entire country, regardless of demographics.
    • 2020, Anne Case, Angus Deaton, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism‎[2], Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 134:
      Income equality often features in popular discussion of deaths of despair and American ill health more generally.
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