Health, Wealth, and Fecal Transplants

Last week I shot a video discussing my fears over Universal Basic Income. This week I want to tackle macroeconomics from a bit of a different perspective.

I’ve noticed a trend amongst my more affluent friends: those who love their lives and have plenty of disposable income are doing everything they can to live longer. They are utilizing myriad resources, including personal trainers, food delivery services, stem cell injections, cold/hot therapies, and even fecal transplants. A few friends have actually told me they have goals to live until they are 130-140 years old! If people are doing this at a micro level, I’m curious to see if there is a correlation between financial success and life expectancy on a macro level as well.

I’ve only begun to do some high-level research (but nowhere near a scientific study), so please take this with a grain of salt. However, I think I can make a pretty good argument that capitalistic societies lead to longer lives for their citizens.

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, this is the list of 224 countries ranked by life expectancy.

Here is a peek at the top of the list:

Now, let’s look at the average income. According to WorldData.info, this is the list of the top 74 countries ranked by average income.

Here again, is the top half of the list:

Some observations, opinions, and thoughts based on my review of  these two lists:

• MANY of the same countries appear in the top 20 or 30 of both lists; Monaco topping both is interesting.
• The life expectancy spread of 40 years between Monaco (#1) and Chad (#224) is shocking.
• Historically communistic societies seem to still be struggling to increase their household incomes and also their life expectancies when you compare them to their more capitalistic neighbors.
• The easiest observation is that third world countries are lagging behind in life expectancy and wealth.

**Action:

Answer these three questions (feel free to email the answers):

• On a micro level, how has your financial situation affected your health and well-being?
• When you review this data, do you spot anything interesting or surprising?
• Do you agree with my thesis that capitalism leads to longer lives? How or how not?**