anne case and angus deaton found something else in their study. >> since at least the mid 1990s people's reports of pain, of sciatic pain, of neck pain, of lower back pain year on year have increased. >> our best strongest pain medicines are the opioids. >> reporter: the mid-1990s was also when the opioid pain killer oxycontin was approved by the f.d.a., and began to be marketed aggressively to doctors. >> they do not have serious medical side effects and so these drugs which i repeat are our best strongest pain medications should be used much more than they are for patients in pain. >> reporter: within five years the drug's maker, purdue pharma, was earning a billion dollars year profit on oxycontin, which soon rose to $3 billion. as for the lack of serious side effects? well, it did have one: >> it's basically heroin in a pill with a f.d.a. label on the front. so people get addicted to this. >> i started on oxycodone, or oxycontin, in high school. >> reporter: elizabeth easton is now in recovery. >> i unleashed something horrid in me many years ago from doing one, one pill. i went from

. >> reporter: predictably, angus deaton and anne case, economists who have documented the dramatic decrease in life expectancy, say an obvious place to look for a use is the economy. >> it used to be with a high school degree you could get a job, that actually could provide for your family. and the disappearance of those may lead people to feel a lot more stressed. >> reporter: indeed, in the period covered by their study, 1999-2014, inflation-adjusted income for households headed by a high school graduate fell by 19%. well away from the ivory tower, on the ground in maysville, wayne pendleton has lived the change. >> maysville when we moved here was a pretty well flourishing little town right here, but we've lived here what, 17 years? and you can just name the stuff that's left here. you can't take a job away from a guy 55 years old and expect him to start all over again. >> even at my age it's depressing not trying to do something. >> reporter: despite four heart attacks, sherman saunders still wants to work. >> that's not someone else's responsibility to take care of the family. it's sup