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The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality

byAngus Deaton

Nobel laureate Angus Deaton tells the long story of humanity's escape from poverty, disease, and early death while confronting the inequalities that progress creates. He connects advances in income, health, knowledge, and public institutions, showing why gains have arrived unevenly across countries and within societies. The book examines aid, globalization, state capacity, and the measurement of well-being without reducing development to a single statistic. Deaton argues that inequality can both signal opportunity and block it, making institutions and political choices central to whether future escapes remain possible.

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Publication date

2013

Format

Print edition

Pages

376

ISBN

9780691165622