There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. Polemicists however are not so reticent or constrained. One crux of the Liberal versus Conservative dialogue is the question of income distribution. Liberals argue that free markets cause large disparities in income.
Conservatives counter that the freer the economy the faster it grows.
The faster it grows the wealthier everyone gets, even those at the bottom of the income distribution. In the study, the authors found a correlation between mortality and indices of income disparity from state to state. However, closer examination of the study reveals that it is limited and inconclusive and does not support that argument that income disparity is more important than absolute income. The study can be examined on two levels. First, if you take the study at face value and believe there were no omissions or errors, the study does not support the argument that disparity is more important than absolute poverty.