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- 01 30, 2025
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come with no downsides at all. Rich countries have almost completely banished infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera and . Instead, their health ministries spend much of their time worrying about illnesses caused by wealth. Cheap, calorie-dense food has abolished starvation in the rich world, but it also encourages diabetes. Sedentary, white-collar jobs are less arduous (and less lethal) than manual work. They also promote obesity and heart disease. Even education is not always an unalloyed good. Over the past few decades, East Asia has seen a stunning rise in the rate of . And a growing pile of evidence suggests that the main underlying reason for this is education—specifically, the fact that children spend large parts of the day in comparatively dimly lit classrooms.