The Body Economic, David Stuckler
The Body Economic, David Stuckler
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The Body Economic
Why Austerity Kills

Author: David Stuckler, Sanjay Basu

Narrator: Tim Andres Pabon

Unabridged: 6 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 05/07/2013


Synopsis

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rob

A clear indictment of conservative economic theology that has deadly consequences for the most vulnerable in society.......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

Always useful to have contributions from various fields; in this case, public health researchers describing the social consequences of austerity (cutting public services in order to "recover" from financial crises); related read: humanitarian physician Paul Farmer's "Pathologies of Power". Placing a......more

Goodreads review by Robert

Very concise research by the two Authors confirms what most empathetic people would think of Government Austerity programs. They hurt the most vulnerable and have a major impact on their physical and mental health.......more

Goodreads review by Rhys

It should be fairly unsurprising that if you fail to provide the most basic needs to people, that it will affect their health in the most negative ways. This book is well-researched rebuttle to any neoliberal government or institution that claims that economic recovery comes through slashing social......more