I'm a sucker for catchy book titles. That's the reason I had to read Why Do Men Have Nipples and definitely a reason I was drawn to The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of Our Time even though it's written by Jeffrey Sachs and has a foreword by the esteemed economist, Bono. Aside from the title alone, I'd recommend everyone read this book for some other reasons- here's what you'll get:The Good
- A thorough portrait of poverty in the world today, with 1/6th of humanity living on <$1 per day. Some facts: 8K children die each day from malaria, 7.5K people die each day from AIDS, and 5K people die each day from tuberculosis.
- An overview of the relatively new phenomenon of economic growth. Discussion of how growth got started and why it was most pronounced in Great Britain.
- Insights into solutions for what is needed to end poverty. Sachs highlights the "Big 5" of 1) agricultural inputs (fertilizer, small-scale irrigation, improved seeds), 2) investments in basic health (antimalarial bed nets, antimalarial medicines, HIV/AIDS treatment), 3) investments in education (primary and vocational education), 4) power, transport, and communications services (electricity, village truck, mobile phones), and 5) safe drinking water and sanitation.
- Data supporting the notion that these "Big 5" needs can be tackled at a reasonable cost.
- Inspiration from Sachs lack of patience and insistence that something be done now.
- A feeling that you can't do anything to help. He builds the problem and necessity of a solution up, then says your efforts don't matter. Maybe this is true, but it's disheartening. Sachs' subscribes to the philosophy of the "poverty trap." Simply put, some people/countries are too poor to save and invest in capital goods, which are necessary to grow. They need all they have to survive; therefore, they don't save and remain in the same improverished state. In order to emerge from this trap, all parts of the "Big 5" must be attached jointly and aggressively, requiring the resources of rich governments.
- An excuse for not helping. Sachs asserts that .7% of rich country GNP needs to be donated to poor countries to break the poverty trap. This, he says, is the responsibility of our governments and rich taxpayers. Middle-class American need not worry about giving their own money, just about ensuring politicians get some from the rich.
- A blind spot to free markets. Sachs asserts that the only way to break the poverty trap is for central coordination of individual country poverty reduction plans. These plans will be developed and administered by the United Nations and the individual countries. Never mind that this is not how any other country in the world's history has embarked on the path to growth, this is now what is necessary.
- Some very left wing political rhetoric on multiple subjects such as the war in Iraq
Well, I let myself get a little more negative than I anticipated on "The Bad." I stick with my original comment that the book is still worth a read. I provides great color and history; unfortunately, I'm not really bought in to the proposed solution.
1 comment:
I read this book too. In a way, he's right about your individual efforts not making a dent. Our individual efforts will only make a very small ding in the grand scheme of the problem.
I think what's just as important as actually helping a few people long the course of your life is the mindset that we can help form in our children, friends and communities. When enough people really understand the problem of extreme poverty, then eventually we will hold ourselves, our politicians, our government accountable for irradicating extreme poverty. We may not solve i in my lifetime, but I think it's definitely forseeable and probably inevitable.
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