Angus Deaton

{{About|the economist|the English comic actor and television presenter|Angus Deayton}}

{{Infobox economist

| name = Sir Angus Deaton

| image = Angus Deaton 5289-2015.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Deaton in 2015

| birth_name = Angus Stewart Deaton

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|10|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland

| nationality = British, American

| discipline = Microeconomics

| workplaces = {{ubl|University of Bristol|Princeton University|{{nowrap|University of Southern California}}}}

| alma_mater = Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

| thesis_title = Models of Consumer Demand and Their Application to the United Kingdom

| thesis_year = 1975

| doctoral_advisor = Richard Stone

| doctoral_students =

| awards = {{ubl|Frisch Medal (1978)|Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2015)|Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)}}

| spouse = Anne Case

| education = {{ubl|Hawick High School|Fettes College}}

| repec_prefix = e

| repec_id = pde30

}}

Sir Angus Stewart Deaton {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA}}[http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2008/keynes.cfm Instruments of Development] - website British Academy (born 19 October 1945) is a British-American economist and academic. Deaton is currently a Senior Scholar and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. His research focuses primarily on poverty, inequality, health, wellbeing, and economic development.{{Cite news|url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/deaton/biocv|title=Bio|work=Professor Sir Angus Deaton |publisher=Princeton University. princeton.edu |access-date=27 November 2017|language=en}}

In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2015/|title=The Prize in Economic Sciences 2015|work=nobelprize.org}}{{Cite web|title = Nobel prize in economics won by Angus Deaton – live|url = https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/oct/12/nobel-prize-sveriges-riksbank-in-economic-sciences-announcement--live|website = The Guardian. theguardian.com |date=12 October 2015 |type=updated 25 May 2017 |access-date = 26 January 2018|first = Graeme|last = Wearden}}

Biography

File:Angus Deaton.webm

Deaton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended Hawick High School{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2015/deaton-bio.html|title=Angus Deaton - Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=29 November 2017}} and then Fettes College as a foundation scholar, working at Portmeirion hotel in the summer of 1964. He earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Cambridge, the last with a 1975 thesis entitled Models of Consumer Demand and Their Application to the United Kingdom under the supervision of Richard Stone. At Cambridge, he was a student and later a fellow at Fitzwilliam College, and a research officer working with Richard Stone and Terry Barker in the Department of Applied Economics.{{Cite web|title = Cambridge alumnus awarded Nobel economics prize|url = http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-alumnus-awarded-nobel-economics-prize|publisher = University of Cambridge|date = 12 October 2015|access-date = 17 October 2015}}

In 1976 Deaton took up a post at the University of Bristol as Professor of Econometrics. During this period, he completed a significant portion of his most influential work. In 1978, he became the first ever recipient of the Frisch Medal, an award given by the Econometric Society every two years to an applied paper published within the past five years in Econometrica. In 1980, his paper{{Cite journal|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|last2=Muellbauer|first2=John|date=1980|title=An Almost Ideal Demand System|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1805222|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=70|issue=3|pages=312–326|jstor=1805222|issn=0002-8282}} on how demand for various consumption goods depends on prices and income was published in The American Economic Review. This paper has since been hailed as one of the twenty most influential articles published in the journal in its first hundred years.{{cite journal | title= 100 Years of the American Economic Review: The Top 20 Articles|journal= American Economic Review|volume= 101|pages= 1–8|doi= 10.1257/aer.101.1.1|year= 2011|last1= Arrow|first1= Kenneth J.|last2= Bernheim|first2= B. Douglas|last3= Feldstein|first3= Martin S.|last4= McFadden|first4= Daniel L.|last5= Poterba|first5= James M.|last6= Solow|first6= Robert M.|doi-access= free|hdl= 1721.1/114169|hdl-access= free}}

In 1983, he left the University of Bristol for Princeton University. He is currently the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Economics at Princeton.{{cite web | title= NBER Profile: Angus Deaton|url= http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/summer07/deaton.html| author=| publisher= National Bureau of Economic Research | access-date= 13 October 2015}} Since 2017, he holds a joint appointment with the University of Southern California where he is the Presidential Professor of Economics.{{Cite news|url=https://news.usc.edu/117726/nobel-laureate-sir-angus-deaton-named-a-presidential-professor/|title=Nobel Laureate Sir Angus Deaton Named a Presidential Professor|access-date=16 November 2017|language=en-US}} He holds both British and American citizenship.{{Cite news | title = Scottish economist Angus Deaton wins Nobel economics prize | first=Malin|last=Rising | agency = Associated Press | publisher = Yahoo! News | date = 12 October 2015 | access-date = 12 October 2015 | url = https://news.yahoo.com/scottish-economist-angus-deaton-wins-112123414.html }}

In 2015, Deaton won that year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Deaton was "delighted" and described himself as "someone who's concerned with the poor of the world and how people behave, and what gives them a good life." The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that economic policy intended to reduce poverty could only be designed once individuals' consumption choices were understood, saying, "More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding. By linking detailed individual choices and aggregate outcomes, his research has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics".{{cite web | title= British academic awarded Nobel economics prize |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34505586| author=|date= 12 October 2015| publisher= BBC News Online | access-date= 12 October 2015}}

Deaton is also the author of "Letters from America", a popular semi-annual feature in the Royal Economic Society Newsletter.{{cite web |url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/deaton/letters-america |title=Letters from America |publisher=princeton.edu}}

In 2024, Deaton wrote about having changed his mind on a large part of the mainstream economics he had previously supported,{{cite web|url=https://www.heterodoxnews.com/n/htn325.html|title=Heterodox Economics Newsletter: Issue 325|date=2024-04-01|author=Jakob Kapeller}} concluding that economists' mistakes showed how "Economists could benefit by greater engagement with the ideas of philosophers, historians, and sociologists, just as Adam Smith once did".{{cite web|access-date=2024-04-01|title=Rethinking Economics or Rethinking My Economics|author=Angus Deaton|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2024/03/Symposium-Rethinking-Economics-Angus-Deaton|website=IMF}}

Scholarship

=Almost Ideal Demand System=

Deaton's first work to become known was Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS), which he developed with John Muellbauer and published in The American Economic Review (AER) in 1980.{{cite journal|last1=Deaton|first1=A|last2=Muellbauer|first2=J.|date=1980|title=An Almost Ideal Demand System|journal=American Economic Review|volume=70|issue=3|pages=312–326|jstor=1805222}} As a consumer demand model, it provides a first-order approximation to any demand system that satisfies the axioms of order, aggregates over consumers without invoking parallel linear Engel curves, is consistent with budget constraints, and is simple to estimate.

According to a review by the American Economic Review, the paper "introduces a practical system of demand equations that are consistent with preference maximization and have sufficient flexibility to support full welfare analysis of policies that have an impact on consumers."{{Cite journal|last1=Arrow|first1=Kenneth J|last2=Bernheim|first2=B. Douglas|last3=Feldstein|first3=Martin S|last4=McFadden|first4=Daniel L|last5=Poterba|first5=James M|last6=Solow|first6=Robert M|title=100 Years of theAmerican Economic Review: The Top 20 Articles|journal=American Economic Review|volume=101|issue=1|pages=1–8|doi=10.1257/aer.101.1.1|year=2011|doi-access=free|hdl=1721.1/114169|hdl-access=free}} The paper was listed as one of the top 20 published works in the AER in the first 100 years of the journal.

=Morbidity and Mortality in the 21st Century=

In 2015, Anne Case and Angus Deaton published the paper "[http://www.pnas.org/content/112/49/15078.full.pdf Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century]" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the article, Case and Deaton highlight the rising all-cause mortality rate among middle-aged white non-Hispanic Americans in the past decade, a recent trend that was unique among "rich" countries.{{Cite journal|last1=Case|first1=Anne|last2=Deaton|first2=Angus|date=8 December 2015|title=Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/112/49/15078.full.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=112|issue=49|pages=15078–15083|doi=10.1073/pnas.1518393112|pmid=26575631|pmc=4679063|bibcode=2015PNAS..11215078C|doi-access=free}} Case and Deaton found that the rising mortality rates were only occurring for white non-Hispanics and that less-educated white non-Hispanics were at the greatest risk. Further, they discovered that the increasing mortality rates among white non-Hispanics could be classified as "deaths of despair", most notably drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis." Finally, they noted that rising mortality rates were accompanied by rising morbidity rates, particularly "[s]elf-reported declines in health, mental health, and ability to conduct activities of daily living, and increases in chronic pain and inability to work". To explain their findings, Case and Deaton point to the rising availability and abuse of opioids:

{{blockquote|The increased availability of opioid prescriptions for pain that began in the late 1990s has been widely noted, as has the associated mortality. The CDC estimates that for each prescription painkiller death in 2008, there were 10 treatment admissions for abuse, 32 emergency department visits for misuse or abuse, 130 people who were abusers or dependent, and 825 nonmedical users ...

[A]ddictions are hard to treat and pain is hard to control, so those currently in midlife may be a "lost generation" whose future is less bright than those who preceded them.}}

As a follow-up to their previous work, Case and Deaton received funding from the National Institute on Aging through the National Bureau of Economic Research to release a larger study that was published in 2017 entitled [http://www.princeton.edu/~accase/downloads/Mortality_and_Morbidity_in_21st_Century_Case-Deaton-BPEA-published.pdf Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century].{{Cite journal|last1=Case|first1=Anne|last2=Deaton|first2=Angus|date=Spring 2017|title=Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~accase/downloads/Mortality_and_Morbidity_in_21st_Century_Case-Deaton-BPEA-published.pdf|journal=Brookings Papers on Economic Activity|volume=2017|pages=397–476|doi=10.1353/eca.2017.0005|pmid=29033460|pmc=5640267}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/mortality-and-morbidity-in-the-21st-century/|title=Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century|last1=Case|first1=Anne |last2=Deaton |first2=Sir Angus|date=23 March 2017|work=Brookings|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/23/521083335/the-forces-driving-middle-aged-white-peoples-deaths-of-despair|last=Body |first=Jessica |date=23 March 2017 |title=The Forces Driving Middle-Aged White People's 'Deaths Of Despair'|work=NPR.org|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en}} In extending their research, they found that the mortality rates for educated white non-Hispanics have begun to decrease again, although the rates for uneducated white non-Hispanics have continued to climb; at the same time, rates for Hispanics and blacks continued to decrease, regardless of educational attainment. Additionally, they found that contemporaneous resources had no effect on mortality rates and that, instead, worsening labor market opportunities for uneducated white non-Hispanics have pushed forward several cumulative disadvantages for middle-aged people, such as worsened marriage and child outcomes, and overall health.

As a result of this research, Case has opined that physical and mental distress may bolster candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2016|title=The POLITICO 50 - 2016|website=POLITICO Magazine|access-date=27 November 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/583595/deaths-of-despair-are-killing-americas-white-working-class/|last=Case |first=Anne |date=30 December 2015 |title="Deaths of despair" are killing America's white working class|work=Quartz|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en-US}} Likewise, the Washington Post and a Gallup Poll showed strong correlation between support for Trump and higher death rates.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/04/death-predicts-whether-people-vote-for-donald-trump/|title=Death predicts whether people vote for Donald Trump|last=Guo|first=Jeff|date=4 March 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news|last1=Rothwell|first1=Jonathan|last2=Diego-Rosell|first2=Pablo|date=2 November 2016|title=Explaining Nationalist Political Views: The Case of Donald Trump|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=2822059}}

=Recognition and awards=

1978—Frisch Medal, an award given by the Econometric Society
2007—Elected president of the American Economic Association.
2011—Awarded BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award of Economics, Finance and Management for his fundamental contributions to the theory of consumption and savings, and the measurement of economic wellbeing.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.es/20120221/economia/rc-angus-deaton-teoria-consumo-201202211527.html|title=Angus Deaton y su teoría del consumo, premio BBVA|last1=Alonso|first1=M. E.|date=21 February 2012|work=ABC|access-date=13 October 2015|language=es}}
2014—Elected to the American Philosophical Society.{{cite web|title=Newly Elected - April 2014|url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2014|publisher=American Philosophical Society|access-date=13 October 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906033625/https://www.amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2014|archive-date=6 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}
2015—Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.{{cite web|title=News from the National Academy of Sciences|date=28 April 2015|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/april-28-2015-NAS-Election.html?referrer=http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=04282015b?referrer=http://www.nationalacademies.org/memarea/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326071320/http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/april-28-2015-NAS-Election.html?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww8.nationalacademies.org%2Fonpinews%2Fnewsitem.aspx%3FRecordID%3D04282015b%3Freferrer%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalacademies.org%2Fmemarea%2F|archive-date=26 March 2016|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=26 January 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}
2015—Awarded with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.
2016—Knighted in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to research in economics and international affairs.{{London Gazette

| issue = 61608

| date = 11 June 2016

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2016—Listed #14 (along with Anne Case) on the Politico 50 guide to the thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016.

Deaton is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy (FBA),[http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/cor.cfm?member=3302 British Academy Fellows: DEATON, Professor Angus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081810/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/cor.cfm?member=3302|date=4 March 2016}} - website of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He holds honorary degrees from the University of Rome, Tor Vergata; University College London; the University of St. Andrews; and the University of Edinburgh.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/annual-review/1011/honorary|title=Honorary graduates |work=Annual Review 2010/11 |publisher=The University of Edinburgh. www.ed.ac.uk|access-date=28 December 2016}}

Political views

In June 2024, 16 Nobel Prize in Economics laureates, including Deaton, signed an open letter arguing that Donald Trump’s fiscal and trade policies coupled with efforts to limit the Federal Reserve's independence would reignite inflation in the United States.{{cite news |last=Nichols |first=Hans |date=June 25, 2024 |title=Scoop: 16 Nobel economists see a Trump inflation bomb |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/06/25/nobel-prize-winners-biden-economy-trump-inflation |access-date=June 26, 2024 |website=Axios |publisher=Cox Enterprises}}{{cite news |last=Picciotto |first=Rebecca |date=June 25, 2024 |title=Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists warn a second Trump term would 'reignite' inflation |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/25/nobel-prize-economists-warn-trump-inflation.html |access-date=June 26, 2024 |publisher=CNBC |archive-date=June 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240626002547/https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/25/nobel-prize-economists-warn-trump-inflation.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Picchi |first=Aimee |date=June 25, 2024 |title=16 Nobel Prize-winning economists warn that Trump's economic plans could reignite inflation |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-economy-nobel-prize-winners-letter-inflation-warning/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709175720/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-economy-nobel-prize-winners-letter-inflation-warning/ |archive-date=July 9, 2024 |access-date=July 12, 2024 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US |quote=Trump's policies could prove to be inflationary, other economists also warned, such as his proposal to create a 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports to deporting immigrants. The tariff plan would add $1,700 in annual costs for the typical U.S. household, essentially acting as an inflationary tax, according to experts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.}}

Personal life

Previously widowed, Deaton has two children, born in 1970 and 1971.{{cite web|last=Deaton |first=Angus |title=Curriculum Vitae |url=http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/deaton/files/deaton_cv_nov14_updated.pdf |date=November 2014 |website=Princeton University |access-date=13 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015224659/http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/deaton/files/deaton_cv_nov14_updated.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }} He is married to Anne Case, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University's Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The couple enjoy the opera and trout fishing. He has declined to comment on whether he supports independence for his native Scotland but said that he has a “strong personal and historical attachment to the Union".{{Cite web | url=https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,sir-angus-deaton-a-lot-of-people-feel-theyre-not-in-control-of-their-lives-anymore | title=Sir Angus Deaton: 'A lot of people feel they're not in control of their lives anymore' | date=22 April 2022 }}

Books

{{cite book|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|last2=Muellbauer|first2=John|date=1980|title=Economics and Consumer Behavior|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521228506}}
Deaton, Angus. (1981). Essays in the Theory and Measurement of Consumer Behaviour. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9780521067553}}.
{{cite book|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|date=1992|title=Understanding Consumption|location=Oxford|series=Clarendon Lectures in Economics|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0198287593}}
{{cite book|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|date=1997|title=The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press for the World Bank|isbn=0801852544}}
Deaton, Angus; Zaidi, Salman. (2002). Guidelines for Constructing Consumption Aggregates for Welfare Analysis. New York: World Bank Press. {{ISBN|0821349902}}.
{{cite book|editor1-last=Deaton|editor1-first=Angus|editor2-last=Kozel|editor2-first=Valerie|date=2005|title=The Great Indian Poverty Debate|location=New Delhi|publisher=Macmillan India Ltd.|isbn=9781403926449}}
{{cite book|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|date=2013|title=The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality|location=Princeton|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691153544}}
{{cite book |last1= Case |first1=Anne |last2= Deaton |first2=Angus |date=2020 |title=Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism |publisher= Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691190785}}
{{cite book |last1=Deaton |first1=Angus |date=2023 |title=Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality |publisher= Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691247625}}

Selected journal articles

Deaton, Angus; J Muellbauer (1980). An almost ideal demand system, The American economic review 70 (3), 312-326
Deaton, Angus (1989). Saving and liquidity constraints, National Bureau of Economic Research.{{Cite journal|last=Deaton|first=Angus|date=1989-12-01|title=Saving and Liquidity Constraints|series=Working Paper Series |doi=10.3386/w3196|url=https://www.nber.org/papers/w3196|language=en|doi-access=free}}
{{cite book|last1=Deaton|first1=Angus|date=2001|title=Health, inequality and economic development|location=Cambridge}}{{Cite journal|last=Deaton|first=Angus|date=2003-03-01|title=Health, Inequality, and Economic Development|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/002205103321544710|journal=Journal of Economic Literature|language=en|volume=41|issue=1|pages=113–158|doi=10.1257/002205103321544710|s2cid=15490945|issn=0022-0515}}

References

External links

[http://scholar.princeton.edu/deaton Angus Deaton's website]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20161128110939/http://www.rugusavay.com/angus-deaton-quotes-with-pictures/ Angus Deaton Quotes With Pictures]
{{Nobelprize}}
[https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2023/oct/07/angus-deaton-interview-book-economics-in-america Angus Deaton on inequality: 'The war on poverty has become a war on the poor'] interview with The Guardian

{{s-ttl | title = President of the American Economic Association | years = 2009– 2010 }}

{{s-ttl | title = Laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics | years = 2015 }}