The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time | Jeffrey Sachs

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time | Jeffrey Sachs | Great concepts, poor politics

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The End of Poverty...

	The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Jeffrey Sachs Penguin (Non-Classics), 2006 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 115 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Well Written

This book is incredibly well written and easy to understand, even for those with no background in development issues or economics. Sachs is to be commended for delivering economics in the everyday prose of the average citizen, and bringing these issues into the forefront of contemporary politics.

Great concepts, poor politics

This serious look at tackling world poverty deserves utmost respect and serious thought from all of us concerned with the problems discussed. It is rather tarred in my opinion by the clearly anti-Bush/Republican bias, that is evidence throughout the last portion of the book. World poverty needs all of us working together, and that includes many who are strongly conservative in their philosophy and economics, and who are still deeply concerned about how we can best help the poorest of the poor.

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Take with a couple grains of salt

Like a lot of college students, I read "The End of Poverty" in a comfortable coffeeshop in America and thought it sounded pretty neat. I was an economics major, with a specialty in developmental econ, and Professor Sachs's idea of "clinical economics" really struck a chord with me. After all, as Sachs says, "it's up to us" to end global poverty, right?

Well, not really. See, since I sat in that coffeehouse and read "End of Poverty," I've served in the Peace Corps in Central Africa, done a lot more reading and actually gotten to work with officials from most of the aid agencies (governmental and non-) that Sachs talks about in this book. And I've come to realize that Professor Sachs's central idea in this book - what Professor William Easterly calls the next "Big New Plan" - is probably fatally flawed. It's flawed not because Prof. Sachs's research isn't top-notch - it mostly is, with some exceptions - but because it rests on two very weak assumptions. The first is that rich countries will ever "solve" poverty in the Third World through big, top-down programs designed and funded by Western planners. That is patently false. The second is that corruption isn't actually that big a problem. Also, way off the mark.

We in the West would really like to think that it will only take the right combinations of (our) policies and (our) funds to "lift up" the rest of the world out of poverty. But this simply isn't the case. Obviously, aid has an important role to play. But until many third world governments - yeah, I'm looking directly at you, Afica - get serious about governing, and not just enriching the local venal coterie of government sycophants at the expense of Western taxpayers, "international development" will amount to little more than an elaborate charade played out for the benefit of well-meaning Westerners who inexplicably keep sending their money to the Third World despite precious few tangible results. (And I'm afraid that many of the old hands in most of the major development organizations agree, when they speak candidly.)

Again, Prof. Sachs is a smart guy with an important perspective. But if you're looking for a more real-world approach to solutions for modern international development schemes, I highly suggest Robert Calderisi's "The Trouble with Africa" and/or William Easterly's "The White Man's Burden."

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Good Ideas

I am not an economist or health expert so I am not qualified as to whether the statistics quoted are accurate or not, but I can say that helping poor people take care of themselves will make for a more stable world is a no-brainer, and he eloquently makes a good argument for that fact. The book lost a couple of stars for his potshots at the U.S. which was annoying and for relying so much on the U.N. The U.N. does a lot of good, but is also somewhat corrupt and disorganized. Overall, if you read the chapters focusing on his efforts to help people you will enjoy it.

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