End Of Poverty [Hardcover]

 

 

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Having a keen interest in international development and economics, I was excited to finally get a chance to read this book. Jeffrey Sachs is certainly a very intelligent guy, and this book is highly researched with exhaustive statistical back-up for many of the claims that he makes. Centrally, the claim that the poor are stuck in a poverty trap and require more aid in specific areas to get on the 'development ladder' (as Sachs puts it) and begin the climb up to a Western standard of living.

As I read through the book I found myself agreeing, nodding my head at parts, but then a growing frustration began to build as I kept reading, feeling as though he were leaving out some crucial detail. Perhaps it's because Sachs is mainly an economist (the book's subtitle is, after all, 'Economic possibilities for our time'), but I felt that the over reliance on charts, statistics and numbers left a gaping hole in the discussion of the effects of these aid packages on the ground. He talks about Bolivia, China, Russia, and India as developing nations and implementing free market policies and establishing things such as Free Trading Zones (areas where companies are exempt from national laws and taxes), but hardly goes into the effects of these on a population. Sachs main error is that he constantly charts the progress of a nation simply by its economic output, or GDP. But are the people happy? Is the culture flourishing? Are they working hard, producing money yes, but being exploited?

I became more and more frustrated and alienated from Sachs book as I read and the human aspect of the book became further and further out of reach. It's important to show that the numbers match and add up correctly, but it's even more important to show what effect aid packages and free market policies are having on the population. Development is not simply about producing the largest amount of GDP as possible. You have to show that the GDP is making the lives better. If they are working in horrible conditions in Free Trade Zones, where corporations lower working standards, threaten to leave if there is any dissension in the ranks, and are not required to follow national laws or pay national taxes...well, the country's GDP may grow and the people may have more income, but are they better off? Is attracting corporations manufacturing factories with lax laws and tax breaks really the best things for the host nation and the people's well-being? Or does it lead to a cycle of exploitation that is difficult to break as corporations demand lower and lower standards to stay in operation in the country? These are questions I had that were left unanswered with Sachs.

Sachs has some interesting policy suggestions and inspiring ideas for aid, and he certainly criticizes and lays open the U.S government's claim that they are doing enough to help, but ultimately, I felt as if he left out the human element all too often, which is, after all, the most important one.

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

Economics is not exactly what I would consider a sexy subject to read about but I was hooked from the first sentence. Sachs delivers insightful information and concrete answers to some of the most important questions regarding the extreme poverty of countries such as Africa. It goes beyond the predjudices that prevail today and will open your eyes to see the truth. He doesn't just talk about what needs to be done, he shows us how to do it. If you truly want to understand why extreme poverty still exists in our 21st century of economic advancements, then this is the book for you. It will educate you and hopefully inspire you as it inspired me to realize that poverty truly can be erradicated by the year 2025.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Good price, good quality
Needed it for a class. Good insight concerning development issues, good quality and was delivered to my house the next day through regular shipping!

Published 3 months ago by Lu

4.0 out of 5 stars Not That New, but Very Important
This book is not very new but is a very necessary work for anyone interested in economic development, particularly
in the economically less developed countries. Read more

Published on Jan 25 2010 by John Lehnert

5.0 out of 5 stars End of Poverty
A very clear and well written argument. Although I disagree with Sachs in some respect, he presents a different, if not workable, method in helping developing countries backed... Read more

Published on July 9 2008 by Fun Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars An accessible introduction to solving extreme poverty.
Jeffrey Sachs lays out an easy-to-remember model for understanding the meaning and cause of extreme poverty, and then proceeds in a methodical way to lay out his solutions. Read more

Published on April 16 2008 by Chris Kutarna

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for everyone who has any interest in the world
Absolutely one of the best books I have read, and economics is not my preferred subject. Readable, engaging, realistic and compassionate, Sachs is a social activist with both... Read more

Published on April 22 2007 by Dark Seraphim

3.0 out of 5 stars No new insights
Prof. Sachs has some fix set of ideas and wants to apply them globally. And this book shows it. My feeling is that it has little new insight. Read more

Published on Jun 9 2006 by china-life 20 years

5.0 out of 5 stars End of Poverty by Sachs
If you want to make a change for the better and broader purpose and yet you dont know how to do, or if you are completely ignorant about your ability of helping others, dont waste... Read more

Published on Dec 27 2005

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