GLOBEMED’S GLOBAL HEALTH EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM
globalhealthU Track 2, Week 1
Exploring The Theories Of Jeffrey Sachs Notable Quotes: ✦ ✦
“Economic Growth really is the best anti-poverty strategy” “We can realistically envision a world without extreme poverty by 2025”
Biography Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. From 2002 to 2006, he was the director of the UN Millennium Project. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern Europe and developing country governments in the implementation of so-called economic “shock therapy” - plans to jumpstart a market economy by comprehensively dismantling all preexisting institutions - during the transition from communism to a market system or during periods of economic crisis. Some of his recommendations have been considered controversial. Subsequently he has been known for his work on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, debt cancellation and globalization.1
Major Theories At the heart of Sachs’ economic theories lies his strong endorsement of government to government aid. He states, “I reject the plaintive cries of the doomsayers who say that ending poverty is impossible. I have identified the specific investments that are needed; found ways to plan and implement them; shown that they can be affordable; and addressed the counsels of despair who claim that the poor are condemned by their cultures, values, and personal behaviors.” In his eyes, aid can stimulate economic growth if it is coupled with governmental accountability.2 Sachs makes it clear that while massive governmental aid is essential, this aid cannot be distributed to all countries in the same manner. His concept of clinical economics where “countries, like patients, are complex systems, requiring differential diagnosis, an understanding of context, monitoring and evaluation, and professional standards of ethics” spells out why different strategical plans are necessary. Included under this idea is an emphasis on history, ethnography and the politics of individual countries.3 The aid that Sachs advocates comes in the form of grants, rather than loans, which have to be repaid and are not tied to specific expenditures. More importantly, this aid must be guaranteed for many years, which allows for sustainable development. Under his U.N. Anti-Poverty Plan, each impoverished country would devise a detailed multi-year poverty reduction strategy, identifying its specific needs, to submit to donor countries. The donor
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GLOBEMED’S GLOBAL HEALTH EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM
globalhealthU countries would then make needed modifications and provide the money necessary to effectively carry out these strategies. In 2006, Sachs stated that 135 billion dollars, rising to a 195 billion dollars by 2015, would be the annual figure necessary to halve global poverty. Of this money, the United States would be responsible for only 40 billion dollars a year until 2015, a target that would be reached by merely reversing President Bush’s first term tax cuts for those earning more than half a million dollars a year.4 Ultimately, Sachs argues that developmental aid based on proven technologies and directed at measurable and practical needs - increased food production, disease control, safe water and sanitation, schoolrooms and clinics, roads, power grids, internet connectivity, etc. - has a distinguished record of success. These measures raise the productivity of the poor so that they can earn and invest their ways out of extreme poverty.5 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/11/050411crbo_books http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/11/050411crbo_books http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/11/050411crbo_books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/dec/21/how-aid-can-work/
Resources ✦
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Always With Us: A detailed account of the development of Sachs’ economic theories that examines both the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments. Discusses Sachs’ view on the sources of poverty, as well as his recommendations to alleviate poverty. Provides examples of Sachs’ research, as well as the results of some of his work. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/11/050411crbo_books How Aid Can Work: Sachs critiques Easterly’s philosophies, as he provides an argument in favor of aid. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/dec/21/how-aid-can-work/ The White Man’s Burden: Easterly critiques Sachs’ arguments and provides his own analysis of the source of poverty, as well as his views on the proper role of aid and development. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2007/jan/11/the-white-mans-burden/
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