Contributor(s): Professor Angus Deaton, Professor Nicholas Stern | The world is a better place than it used to be. People are wealthier and healthier, and live longer lives. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many have left gaping inequalities between people and between nations. In this lecture Angus Deaton (one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty) tells the remarkable story of how, starting two hundred and fifty years ago, some parts of the world began to experience sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's hugely unequal world. Deaton takes an in-depth look at the historical and ongoing patterns behind the health and wealth of nations, and he addresses what needs to be done to help those left behind. Angus Deaton is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. His many books include The Analysis of Household Surveys and Economics and Consumer Behavior. He is a past president of the American Economic Association. Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, the first holder of this position, at the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD), and chair of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.