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ISBN : B00CNYQKDM
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Politicians have talked endlessly about the seismic economic and social impacts of the recent financial crisis, but many continue to ignore its disastrous effects on human health - and have even exacerbated them, by adopting harsh austerity measures and cutting key social programs at a time when constituents need them most. The result, as pioneering public health experts David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu reveal in this provocative audiobook, is that many countries have turned their recessions into veritable epidemics, ruining or extinguishing thousands of lives in a misguided attempt to balance budgets and shore up financial markets. Yet, sound alternative policies could instead help improve economies and protect public health at the same time.
In The Body Economic, Stuckler and Basu mine data from around the globe and throughout history to show how government policy becomes a matter of life and death during financial crises. In a series of historical case studies stretching from 1930s America, to Russia and Indonesia in the 1990s, to present-day Greece, Britain, Spain, and the U.S., Stuckler and Basu reveal that governmental mismanagement of financial strife has resulted in a grim array of human tragedies, from suicides to HIV infections. Yet, people can and do stay healthy, and even get healthier, during downturns. During the Great Depression, U.S. deaths actually plummeted, and today Iceland, Norway, and Japan are happier and healthier than ever, proof that public wellbeing need not be sacrificed for fiscal health.
Full of shocking and counterintuitive revelations and bold policy recommendations, The Body Economic offers an alternative to austerity - one that will prevent widespread suffering, both now and in the future.
Books with free ebook downloads available Free The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 6 hours and 41 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC
- Audible.com Release Date: May 6, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00CNYQKDM
Free The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills
The Body Economic is a refreshing change in the monotonous age of blogs that have no accountability,articles that haven't been reviewed by critical peers, and books that are backed up with nothing but ideology (and a willing publisher).
The book starts by saying that we are all part of a clinical trial. This sounds cute at first but becomes more chilling as you read along. The book looks at populations around the world (Iceland, Greece, historical and contemporary United States, the UK, Sweden, Thailand, post-Soviet Nations etc) and how they fared based on which decisions their governments made (cut spending or maintain social programs). The results are unequivocal and will threaten the ideologues on the right but can actually change their minds, if they give data a chance.
This book has the passion of "Pathologies of Power", but takes a more direct look at the economic determinants of health. It has the empathy and global reach of "Development as Freedom" but has a remarkably accessible language, especially given that the authors are academicians (sorry Amartya Sen, you are a brilliant economist but you work faster than Ambien for the average Jane). It has the data-driven approach of "Poor Economics" but it is unapologetic in its conclusion that austerity kills.
The last point is sure to ruffle some feathers. Academics who make conclusions that are backed by politically-neutral data often take a cautious approach in their language, perhaps in an attempt to engage those who might be turned off by a subtitle as seemingly polarizing as "Why Austerity Kills". However, The Body Economic is unapologetic and strongly backed by solid data.
Saving money in times of scarcity is a theme passed along to most of us from our parents and grandparents. Many of us deeply value and respect individual frugality, even if it is not easily or effectively put into practice. Indeed, spending and saving wisely is a key foundation for individual and community prosperity. Somewhere along the way, however, large number of influential economists and politicians intuitively and understandably tried to apply this logic to governments at times of financial crisis. Thus was born the idea of "austerity", a fiscal principal of cutting back spending in order to avoid debt and deficits. The results over the last quarter century of global austerity policies were devastating on both economic growth and population health. The austerity policy "experiment", as epidemiologists David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu describe in their new book, The Body Economic, has led to large losses to both the economy and to population health.
As an epidemiologist and a physician myself, I see on a daily basis the real and deep morality to statistics and their accurate collection, interpretation, and discussion. Real people live and die on the basis of how we as citizens, policy makers, and clinical providers process data. Indeed, all of us, regardless of our professions, are confronted with statistics about life and death on a daily basis. What we or our policy makers rarely do, however, is analyze deeply these statistics and how they actually impact our lives. This is the heart of the approach that Drs. Stuckler and Basu take to analyzing economic policies at times of recessions: what do data tell us, beyond rhetoric and intuition and biases, about how governments should respond?
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