"Up and down the age spectrum, deaths of despair have been surging for people without a four-year college degree," write @DLeonhardt and @stuartathompson on the research of Anne Case and Angus Deaton nyti.ms/2ItWwCE
Case and Deaton argue that life for many middle- and low-income Americans without college degrees can lack structure, status and meaning. For example, marriage rates have diverged and church attendance has declined. nyti.ms/2ItWwCE 
Surveys show that a growing number of working-class Americans find it difficult to do basic things, like climb a flight of stairs or socialize, partly because of chronic problems with their mental or physical health. nyti.ms/2ItWwCE
Those Americans are also drinking more. In their new book, Case and Deaton assert that working-class life in the U.S. is more difficult than it is in any other high-income country. nyti.ms/2ItWwCE
Ultimately, working-class Americans are unhappier than their counterparts with college degrees. “This B.A./non-B.A. divide,” Deaton says, “just comes up again and again and again.” nyti.ms/2ItWwCE
What can be done? Read on in this Sunday Review piece by @DLeonhardt and @stuartathompson: nyti.ms/2ItWwCE
