Health, Wealth and the Origins of Inequality

Leading development economist Angus Deaton explores the historical and ongoing patterns behind the health and wealth of nations in our hugely unequal world, and addresses what needs to be done to help those left behind.

Angus Deaton, one of the world's leading experts on economic development and poverty, visits the RSA to show how changes in health and living standards have transformed our lives. The world is undoubtedly a better place than it used to be, with so many of us healthier, wealthier and living longer lives than ever before.

And yet many people and nations have yet to make the great escape from destitution. Starting from 250 years ago, Deaton shows how some parts of the world began to experience sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's hugely unequal world.

Speaker: Angus Deaton, Dwight D. Eisenhower professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University.

Chair: Robert Wade, professor of Political Economy and Development LSE.