EDITORS: Besley, Salimi, and Collier will take media calls prior to the event. Wagstaff will be unavailable for media interviews

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan International Institute is hosting a globalization series that will offer insights into the critical multilateral and interdisciplinary issues affecting universities—and potentially all of society—in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy. On
According to Wagstaff, the world community is paying closer attention to inequalities of health within developing countries. He reveals that health inequalities are not the result of how much money a country spends on health or the fact that certain countries have more money than others, but on discrepancies in how much money individuals in a particular country make. In short, trends show that health inequalities rise as portions of a society make more money than others, whether those countries are developing or developed. As the “better offs” assimilate new technology, they are able to take advantage of certain opportunities not within reach of their poorer counterparts.

Wagstaff will discuss ways of quantifying the trade-off between health inequalities and health levels, and center on the notion that successful anti-inequality policies can be devised that will benefit entire societies.

Other series presentations include:

The series, titled “Globalizations Challenge to the Research University: Engaging Multilateral Institutions,” is sponsored by U-M’s International Institute, School of Education, Department of Political Science, School of Information, Department of Economics, Center for International Business Education, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health.