Premature Mortality and Socioeconomic Status: the Size and Socio-political Implications of the Early Disappearance of the Poor –

Javier Rodriguez, Ph.d.

Javier Rodriguez, Ph.d.

Speaker Javier Rodriguez, Ph.D., Dept. of Politics and Government, Claremont Graduate University

From the opioids epidemic to electoral politics, this talk is a short tour across the economic, public health, and socio-political principles and trends addressing the increasing socioeconomic inequality in life expectancy in the contemporary U.S. This is a discussion on the current evidence addressing how these inequalities also intersect by race and sex, and how they have powerful consequences for the perpetuation of inequality, the overall well being of the population, and our representative democracy.  Dr. Rodriguez is the Mary Toepelt Nicolai and George S. Blair Assistant Professor of Politics and Government and the co-Director of the Institute for Policy and Inequality Research at CGU, and a Research Affiliate in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He has done extensive research, and is a multidisciplinary scholar with studies in engineering and the social and health sciences. He earned a Ph.D. from UCLA and did postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan.

Introduction: Art Sutton
Fellowship: Don McDonald
Greeters: Pat Kelly, Art Parker