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

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

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The End of Poverty...

	The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Jeffrey D. Sachs Penguin Press, 2005 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 116 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

the end of poverty

Jeffrey Sachs answers the questions many people who are aware of what the world is really like want to know.Poverty is a reality and he wants people to understand that and he explains exactly what is needed to help elevate extreme poverty.He explains the difference between poverty and extreme poverty ,he discusses the controversial topic of American companies moving overseas and makes the point that this move by American companies is not such a bad thing.He puts things in perspective and really educates people about basic economics.This book is not a hard read but reads as it was intended , kinda like a text book ,however it is one that would interest those who want to make a difference such as starting or working in an NGO (nongovernmental organizations).A must read and I am a CONSERVATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The End of Poverty?

I recently read Jeffery Sachs' The End of Poverty. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was excited to pick up at development best-seller- not a common combination! While I usually try to avoid non-fiction when I'm not at school or working, and tend to have a fiction addiction, I think TEOP will find its way onto my 2007 top ten list.

The book does a great job of summarizing most of my four year international development degree, from discussions of absolute versus relative poverty, to the best way to address the issues of environment, health, education and livelihoods in the developing world. And Sachs does it in a way that makes development concepts accessible: he looks at development as a ladder, and those facing extreme poverty have not been able to get their feet on even the first rung. Thus, the requirements of aid can be seen as inputs to help that group reach the bottom of the ladder and begin to work their way up. He also brings down the issues to a single number: $75billion dollars a year until 2025, at which point he believes that all human kind could be on the development ladder and extreme poverty would be eliminated. Hence, the End of Poverty!

Situated, as he is, in the heart of American development politics and economics, Sachs was also able to do a good job of explaining the successes and deficiencies of his country's aid contributions. Like the discussion in the previous post, this has helped to give me a more detailed view of America's role in the development world, which I find really interesting. He called on a number of American thinkers and activists to give power to his arguments for the potential of the end of extreme poverty. Paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr, Sach's says "The bank of international justice is not bankrupt," and explains how people like King, Gandhi, and Mandela "transformed the impossible into the inevitable." While many people think ending poverty is impossible, and that we in the West can't afford it, Sachs is busy making us realize that we can, and we should.

His point is obviously more and better action, which is heralded over and over again by poverty activists like Bono, Angelina Jolie or Bob Geldof. But the good thing about Sachs is that he manages to mainstream his ideas about aid and development, and introduce them in more conservative economic circles than would usually listen to the rockstar rolemodels. In his final "to do list", Sachs calls everyone to "make a personal commitment," something I believe in very strongly. He ends the book with this quote:

Let no one be discouraged by the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills- against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence...Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. -- Robert Kennedy

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Good... but it lacks something

This book was intended to be read by anyone. As a fun, lighthearted read, it's OK. But if you're an economist, like I am, will find this one a bit repetitive and boring, with no real presentation fo solutions to the poverty issues around the world.

The part that really caught my attention was Mr. Sachs' work in Russia, Poland, India, China and Bolivia as an economic advisor. Wish he had extended those chapters a bit more, adding more details.

Still unconvinced?

The End of Poverty is a book of lofty goals, but it is important both for some of the issues it raises and for its position among development theorists of today.

**BUT** if you, like myself finished Jeffrey Sachs' book feeling less than satisfied, I recommend you complement his optimism with another book: William Easterly's "White Man's Burden." I strongly believe that these books read in conjuction are much more powerful than either read alone. Happy reading!

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