Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland

by Jonathan M. Metzl

A series of related studies link these trends with geography. Public health scholars Jennifer Montez and Lisa Berkman found that the negative health effects of low educational attainment varied by region and that people living in the northeastern United States “did not experience a significant increase in mortality like their counterparts in other regions.” Similarly, political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson found that the states with the highest life expectancies were also the states with the highest educational levels (bachelor’s degree or higher). States with the highest education levels also tended to collect progressive state and local taxes and invest more readily in “education, infrastructure, urban quality of life and human services.” By contrast, states that cut taxes for corporations and wealthy persons and reduced government services saw worse health outcomes.