The Body Economic (39 page)

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Authors: David Stuckler Sanjay Basu

BOOK: The Body Economic
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A special thanks goes to Molly Crockett for her extraordinary assistance in editing and revising the manuscript. We are also grateful to Michelle Spring for introducing us to the world of trade publishing and helping us to craft the initial book proposal. We are particularly thankful to Shah Ebrahim
and Fiona Taylor for giving us refuge in Delhi during the final stages of this writing.

David would additionally like to thank his parents, Danny and Margit, and his sister, Michelle, for their unwavering support. His research has benefited from the insights and direction of Mary Ridgway, Lowell Levin, Mark Schlesinger, Larry King, Paul Schultz, Christopher Meissner, and especially Martin McKee. Thanks to the continued support and friendship of Chris Lockamy, Elizabeth Rush, and Louis Caron.

Sanjay would also like to thank his parents for always encouraging him to “read, read, read, read everything” (as per Faulkner), and his mentors Christine Balone for teaching him to write, Lee Marek for the gift of science, Rudolph Tanzi for the experimental spirit, and Noam Chomsky for being the quintessence of the public intellectual. Special thanks to Paul Farmer for always humbly bestowing on him the lessons of social justice; Jim Yong Kim for teaching him how to pick the right battles; Joseph Dumit for insights on academia; and Anita Desai, Alan Lightman, and Jean Jackson for the gift of the pen. For their mentorship in medicine and epidemiology, thanks to Rick Altice, R. Douglas Bruce, Gerald Friedland, Edward Kaplan, Sharad Jain, Stanton Glantz, Robert Lustig and Jack Farquhar. Thanks to John Ioannidis for role-modeling the ideal of a critical scientist, and for everyone at the Stanford Prevention Research Center for their family spirit and passion in the pursuit of public health. Thanks to the continued support and friendship of Jason Andrews, C. Brandon Ogbunagafor, Jay Varellas, Russell Bither-Terry, Sandeep Kishore, Amy Kapczynski, Gregg Gonsalves, Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru and the Nyaya Health team. For their encouragement and constructive criticism in writing, thanks as well to Sandy Close, Viji Sundaram, Richard Rodriguez and the folks at New America Media. And thanks most of all to Palav Babaria, the love of my life, who forgave many sleepless nights, and who always provides a critical lifeline of grounded insight, encouragement and partnership.

This book would not have been possible without the dedication of an incredible editorial team. Thanks to Lara Heimert at Basic Books for her “fierce but loving” edits to strengthen our manuscript, to Norman MacAfee for his indelible camaraderie and eleventh-hour marathon editing sessions, and to Thomas Penn at Penguin for his intellectual spirit, vast historical knowledge, and keen eye for detail. We are very grateful for support from Katy O'Donnell
and the team at Basic at every step of the book's development; Karen Browning and the team at Penguin for their support to produce the book; and Iris Tupholme and the HarperCollins crew for their coordination and wisdom. Thanks finally to Patrick Walsh and his team at Conville and Walsh for being the most supportive agency a new pair of authors could hope for.

INDEX

Alcohol consumption,
xvii
,
18–19
,
70–71
,
130

Alcohol-related deaths,
13–14
,
19
,
25–27
,
36

Aliber, Robert,
60

ALMP (Active Labor Market Program) protective effect,
114–121
,
144

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
126
,
142

Arrow, Kenneth,
101

Assumed fiscal multiplier errors,
64–65
,
92

Austerity

     
defined,
ix

     
the democratic option to,
66–67
,
71
,
74
,
93
,
142–143

     
failure of,
140

     
Great Recession experiment in,
ix–x
,
140

     
New New Deal program response,
143–145

     
personal impact, stories of,
xvii–xviii
,
3–4
,
91
,
94
,
97–98
,
110

Bahr, Daniel,
93

Bakersfield,
123–125
,
126
,
137
,
145

Baltic states recession (1990s),
118–119

Belarus post-Soviet gradualist policy,
31
,
32–33
,
35
,
36

Bevan, Aneurin,
108

Beveridge, William,
141

Body economic,
xx–xxi,
139
,
142–143

Body politic, defined,
139

Braly, Angela,
101

Brown, Gordon,
69

Bush, George W.,
136

Byrne, Peter,
112

California,
97–98
,
123–125

California Encephalitis Project (CEP),
124
,
136–137
,
145

Cameron, David,
ix
,
3
,
5
,
19
,
106
,
140

Campaniello, Giuseppe,
109–110

Canada,
xiv
,
xix
,
104

Cardiovascular disease,
25–26
,
36
,
68

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
124
,
136
,
144

Children, impact of austerity on,
50
,
129

China,
40

Christoulas, Dimitris,
xvii–xviii
,
94

Clegg, Nick,
106

Corruption,
27–28
,
33–34
,
85

Czech Republic post-Soviet gradualist policy,
28
,
33

Deming, W.,
142

the democratic option,
66–67
,
71
,
74
,
93
,
142–143

Denmark,
119

Depression,
69
,
112–114
,
115
,
127

Donovan, Neil,
128–129

Dublin, Louis,
7

East Asia economic growth (1980s),
42–44

East Asian crisis (1990s)

     
economic impacts of austerity,
43
,
46
,
48

     
health impacts of austerity,
46
,
48–50

     
IMF austerity requirements,
45

     
roots of,
43

     
social impacts,
44
,
142

     
welfare protection countries, impacts on,
46–47
,
50–53

Eastern Europe recession 1990s,
118–119

Economic impacts

     
of foreclosure threat,
127–128

     
of gradual vs. rapid privatization,
22
,
32–35
,
37
,
40

     
of Shock Therapy,
32
,
35

     
of stimulus,
xii–xiii
,
46
,
52
,
140–142

Economic impacts of austerity

     
deficit reduction and recovery,
xii–xiii
,
5–6
,
88
,
93

     
globally,
140–141

     
homelessness, costs of,
126–127
,
132–134

     
medical care for individuals,
3–4
,
48
,
98

     
poverty,
43
,
46
,
47

     
public health budget cuts,
78
,
85–89
,
91–92
,
107

     
unemployment,
81
,
87
,
120

Estonia,
28

European Central Bank,
78
,
80
,
92

European Commission,
78

European financial crisis,
4–5
,
58

Federal Emergency Relief Act,
15

Felixson, Helgi,
62
,
73

Finland,
111
,
115
,
118–119
,
121
,
135

Fischer, Stanley,
29
,
47

Food Stamp Program,
15

Ford Hunger March/Massacre,
14–15
,
142

Foreclosure crisis.
See also
Great Recession
(US, 2007–2009)

     
United Kingdom,
131–134

     
United States,
123–131
,
136–137

Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries,
28–29
,
31–35

France,
104
,
105

Friedman, Milton,
30
,
37
,
67

Friedman, Samuel R.,
89

Gaddafi, Muammar,
69
,
88

Gaidar, Yegor,
29

Galbraith, James,
93

Germany,
84
,
93–94
,
104
,
105

Gkezerva, Zoi,
91

God Bless Iceland
(Felixson),
62
,
73

Gorbachev, Mikhail,
25–26
,
29
,
31
,
37

Gradual privatization policy effects,
28
,
32–36
,
40

Great Depression,
6–16

Great Recession (US, 2007–2009).
See also
New Deal

     
austerity response,
xvii
,
100
,
142

     
banking sector rescue packages,
4–5

     
deferral of essential medical care, due to inability to pay,
97–101
,
127

     
foreclosure crisis,
123–131
,
136–137

     
health insurance company profits,
101–102

     
Medicaid enrollment growth,
100

     
mental health,
112–113

     
mortality rates,
xix
,
18–19
,
99
,
103

     
personal stories,
x–xi,
xvii

     
roots of,
6

     
suicide rates,
xix
,
12
,
110–111
,
112

Greece

     
corruption, pre-crisis,
81
,
84

     
economic recovery,
75

     
economy, pre-crisis,
79–81

     
financial crisis roots of,
79–81

     
IMF recovery plan,
84–85

     
suicides, pre-crisis,
xix

Greece, financial crisis austerity response

     
bailout funds, misuse of,
92

     
corruption and the,
85

     
democracy, suspension of,
78
,
83
,
87–88

     
economic impacts,
78
,
81–82
,
85–89
,
91–92
,
107

     
Germany's insistence on,
94

     
health impacts,
xiv
,
xvii–xviii
,
xix
,
77–78
,
83–91

     
homelessness and the,
78
,
135

     
homicide rates,
xiv
,
78

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