Editor’s note: Dr. Deaton, a social economist from Princeton who is widely respected uses this readable book to separate health and income’s effects on global life quality. He is brave enough to go way back and way forward in sharing his thought and all of his present and past observations are well researched and documented. Late in his thesis he says (my favorite seven words in the book) that we should worry about “equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes.” His overall findings, if summarized from my reading would be that we’ve had huge progress in spreading (health and income) life quality over the last 150 years but that we may not do as well going forward. Essentially he is optimistic about the past and somewhat pessimistic about our future and while he cites good reasons to be skeptical, I’m hoping his warnings are observed and considered but not believed or accepted.  

Favorite excerpt:  “If the educational system becomes flexible enough to produce new skills as quickly as the need for them grows, the current rise in inequality will eventually come to an end.”

http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Escape-Origins-Inequality/dp/0691165629