About the Author

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist and the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became renowned his work throughout the developing world and on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation and globalization. He has twice been named one of Time magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. He has authored numerous books, including The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, both New York Times bestsellers. Jeffrey D. Sachs is Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and the global best-selling author of The End of Poverty. He is also the BBC's Reith Lecturer for 2007 and is internationally renowned for his work as an economic advisor to governments around the world.

Reviews

'This is an impressive exercise in presenting complex subject matter in plain English, and relating the practicalities of life- subsistence agriculture and water management, for example - to the biggest ideas of modern science' - Martin Vander Weyer, The Daily Telegraph 'His new book ! bursts with ideas and is suffused with what can only be described as irrepressible optimism' - Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

In this sobering but optimistic manifesto, development economist Sachs (The End of Poverty) argues that the crises facing humanity are daunting-but solutions to them are readily at hand. Sachs focuses on four challenges for the coming decades: heading off global warming and environmental destruction; stabilizing the world's population; ending extreme poverty; and breaking the political logjams that hinder global cooperation on these issues. The author analyses economic data, demographic trends and climate science to create a lucid, accessible and suitably grim exposition of looming problems, but his forte is elaborating concrete, pragmatic, low-cost remedies complete with benchmarks and budgets. Sachs's entire agenda would cost less than 3% of the world's annual income, and he notes that a mere two days' worth of Pentagon spending would fund a comprehensive antimalaria program for Africa, saving countless lives. Forthright government action is the key to avoiding catastrophe, the author contends, not the unilateral, militarized approach to international problems that he claims is pursued by the Bush administration. Combining trenchant analysis with a resounding call to arms, Sachs's book is an important contribution to the debate over the world's future. (Mar.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.