Abstract
This study emphasizes how crucial social capital to decrease the deaths of despair among Rust Belt counties. From the year 2015 the social theory of “deaths of despair” became a matter of curiosity among researchers: rising despair and unemployment in regions like the Rust Belt were the common cause of rising death rates among white Americans. Suicide, alcoholic liver disease, and drug overdose are the three categories of disease. The Appalachian region of the United States, particularly Pennsylvania, West Virginia, along with Delaware, has a high rate of diseases of despair and the deaths that follow. Numerous things, such as hopelessness, loneliness, loss, or a lack of direction or purpose in life, can contribute to despair. When researchers test the validity of this hypothesis, mixed results have been found in this regard.
Findings from 140 counties from the Rust Belt region revealed that social capital can be an effective policy instrument to decrease the deaths of despair. Therefore federal, state, county, academia and community leaders should implement policies to increase the social capital levels among US citizens.
JEL Codes: H10, H75, I15, I18