“Deaths of despair”; then, O’Reilly’s troubles

Guests: Angus Deaton, Anne Case, David Folkenflik

For most western countries, mortality rates have been in decline. But among white working class Americans there has been an increase in mortality rates, and not all of it can be explained by the opioid epidemic. Princeton professors, ANGUS DEATON and ANNE CASE first noticed this trend a few years ago and wrote a paper on it in 2015.  They’ve since dug deeper into the underlying factors behind the increases mortality which they call “deaths of despair” and include things like the lack of jobs, marriage breakups, family dysfunction, social isolation, and obesity.  They join Marty to talk about their research. Then, we’ll talk with NPR’s DAVID FOLKENFLIK about the recent fallout at FOX following an exodus of advertisers from “The O’Reilly Factor” following sexual harassment settlements that were recently made public.