Jeffrey Sachs
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey David Sachs (ˈsæks; born November 5, 1954, in Detroit, Michigan
) is an American
economist
and Director of The Earth Institute
at Columbia University
. One of the youngest economics professors
in the history of Harvard University
, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the implementation of so-called economic shock therapy
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
.
Sachs is the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs
and a Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia's School of Public Health
. He is Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon
, and the founder and co-President of the Millennium Promise Alliance
, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty
and hunger
. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the United Nations Millennium Project
's work on the Millennium Development Goals
, eight internationally sanctioned objectives to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, and disease by the year 2015. Since 2010 he has also served as a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development
, which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.
He has authored numerous books, including The End of Poverty
and Common Wealth
, both New York Times bestsellers and his latest book The Price of Civilization released on October 4, 2011. He has been named one of Time Magazines "100 Most Influential People in the World"
twice, in 2004 and 2005.
, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan
, and graduated from Oak Park High School
. He attended Harvard College
, where he received his B.A. summa cum laude in 1976. He went on to receive his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics
from Harvard, and was invited to join the Harvard Society of Fellows
while still a Harvard graduate student. In 1980, he joined the Harvard faculty as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982. A year later, at the age of 29, Sachs became a Full Professor of economics with tenure at Harvard.
During the next 19 years at Harvard, he became the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade, the Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development
at the Kennedy School of Government (1995–1999), and the Director of the Center for International Development (1999–2002).
After the Center for International Development failed to attract sustainable funding or broad scholarly involvement, Sachs resigned from Harvard in March 2002 to become the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University
in New York City. He is currently the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and he is also a professor for Columbia's Department of Economics and Department of Health Policy and Management. His classes are taught at the School of International and Public Affairs
, the Mailman School of Public Health
, and his course "Challenges of Sustainable Development" is taught at the undergraduate level.
to market economies.
In 1985, Bolivia
was undergoing hyperinflation
and was unable to pay back its debt to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). Sachs, an economic adviser to the Bolivian government at the time, drew up an extensive plan, later known as shock therapy, to drastically cut inflation by liberalizing the Bolivian market, ending government subsidies, eliminating quotas
, and linking the Bolivian economy to the US Dollar. After Sachs' plan was implemented, inflation fell from 11,750% to 15% per year from 1985 to 1987.
In 1990, the Polish government introduced shock therapy to break from communism. Sachs and ex-IMF economist David Lipton advised the rapid conversion of all property and assets from public to private ownership. In Poland, Sachs was firmly on the side of rapid transition to "normal" capitalism. At first he proposed U.S.-style corporate structures, with professional managers answering to many shareholders and a large economic role for stock markets. That didn't fly with the Polish authorities, but, after, he proposed that large blocks of the shares of privatized companies would be placed in the hands of private banks. As a result there were some economic shortages and inflation
, but after prices in Poland eventually stabilized.
In late 1991, the Russian government invited Harvard to give advice on reproducing the Polish experience. Harvard economist Andrei Shleifer
advised President Boris Yeltsin
on privatization
and macroeconomic issues during the early stages of Russia's reforms. Sachs advised Russia (under the Yeltsin administration) for two years from December 1991 to January 1994.
, poverty alleviation, health and aid policy, and environmental sustainability. He has written extensively on climate change
, disease control
, and globalization
, and is one of the world's leading experts on sustainable development
.
In his 2005 work, The End of Poverty
, Sachs wrote "Africa's governance is poor because Africa is poor." According to Sachs, with the right policies and key interventions, extreme poverty
— defined as living on less than $1 a day — can be eradicated within 20 years. India and China serve as examples, with the latter lifting 300 million people out of extreme poverty during the last two decades. Sachs believes a key element to accomplishing this is raising aid from $65 billion in 2002 to $195 billion a year by 2015. He emphasizes the role of geography and climate, with much of Africa suffering from being landlocked and disease-prone. However, he stresses that these problems can be overcome.
Sachs suggests that with improved seeds, irrigation, and fertilizer, the crop yields in Africa and other places with subsistence farming can be increased from 1 ton/hectare to 3-5 tons/hectares. He reasons that increased harvests would significantly increase the income of subsistence farmers, thereby reducing poverty. Sachs does not believe that increased aid is the only solution. He also supports establishing credit and microloan programs
, which are often lacking in impoverished areas. Sachs has also advocated the distribution of free insecticide-treated bed nets to combat malaria
. The economic impact of malaria has been estimated to cost Africa US$12 billion per year. Sachs estimates that malaria can be controlled for US$3 billion per year, thus suggesting that anti-Malaria projects would be an economically justified investment.
From 2002 to 2006, Sachs was the Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to then Secretary-General
Kofi Annan
on the Millennium Development Goals
. Sachs founded the Millennium Villages Project
, a plan dedicated to ending extreme poverty in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa
through targeted agricultural, medical, and educational interventions. Along with philanthropist Ray Chambers
, Sachs founded Millennium Promise
, a nonprofit organization, to help the Earth Institute fund and operate the Millennium Villages Project.
Now a Special Adviser to current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
, Sachs is still a leading advocate for the Millennium Development Goals, frequently meeting with foreign dignitaries
and heads of state. He has also become a close friend of international celebrities Bono
and Angelina Jolie
, both of whom have traveled to Africa with Sachs to witness the progress of the Millennium Villages.
Sachs has been a consistent critic of the IMF and its policies around the world. He has blasted the international bankers for what he sees as a pattern of ineffective investment strategies.
, a professor of economics at New York University
. Easterly reproached The End of Poverty
in his review for The Washington Post
, and Easterly's 2006 book White Man's Burden is an even more thorough rebuttal of Sachs' argument that poor countries are stuck in a "poverty trap
" from which there is no escape, except by massively scaled-up foreign aid, though Sachs himself has clearly emphasized the need for a complex, multi-faceted, clinical and unique approach to economic development, of which increased and responsible foreign aid is nearly always a necessary but insufficient part. Easterly presents statistical evidence that he claims proves that many emerging markets
attained their higher status without large amounts of foreign aid as Sachs proposes.
Another Sachs critic is Amir Attaran
, a scientist and lawyer who holds the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development at the University of Ottawa
. Sachs and Attaran have worked closely as colleagues, including coauthoring a famous study in The Lancet
documenting the dearth of foreign aid money
to fight HIV/AIDS in the 1990s, which led to the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. However, Sachs and Attaran part company in their opinion of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDG), and Attaran argued in a paper published in PLoS Medicine
and an editorial in the New York Times that the United Nations has misled people by setting specific, but immeasurable, targets for the MDGs (for example, to reduce maternal mortality or malaria
). Sachs dismissed that view in a reply to PLoS Medicine by saying that only a handful of the MDGs are immeasurable, but Attaran then cited the United Nations' own data analysis (which the UN subsequently blocked from public access) showing that progress on a very large majority of the MDGs is never measured.
Sachs has also been criticized by leftists for having an overly neoliberal perspective on the economy. Nancy Holmstrom and Richard Smith pointed out that, in advising implementation of his shock therapy
on the collapsing Soviet Union, Sachs "supposed the transition to capitalism would be a natural, virtually automatic economic process: start by abandoning state planning, free up prices, promote private competition with state-owned industry, and sell off state industry as fast as possible…". They go on to cite the drastic decreases in industrial output
over the ensuing years, a nearly halving of the country's GDP and of personal income
s, a doubling of the suicide rate, and a skyrocketing unemployment rate. The Lancet has recently reported that rapid privatization of the Soviet Union caused a 12.8% death rate increase among males in just two years, a claim that The Economist
attributed to alcoholism, though The Lancet article attributed the rise in alcoholism to changes in the economy.
. He was also named one of the "500 Most Influential People in the Field of Foreign Policy" by the World Affairs Councils of America
.
In February 2002, Nature Magazine stated that Sachs "has revitalized public health thinking since he brought his financial mind to it." In 1993 he was cited in the New York Times Magazine as "probably the most important economist in the world." In 1994, Time Magazine called him "the world's best-known economist." In 1997, the French
magazine Le Nouvel Observateur
cited Sachs as one of the world's 50 most important leaders on globalization
.
In 2005, he received the Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice. In 2007, Sachs was awarded the Padma Bhushan
, a high civilian honor bestowed by the Government of India
. Also in 2007, he received the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution International Advocate for Peace Award as well as the Centennial Medal
from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
for his contributions to society.
From 2000 to 2001, Sachs was Chairman of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health of the World Health Organization
, and from 1999 to 2000 he served as a member of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission
established by the U.S. Congress. Sachs has been an adviser to the World Bank
, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Health Organization
, the International Monetary Fund
, and the United Nations Development Program. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine
; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
; Harvard Society of Fellows
; the Fellows of the World Econometric Society; the Brookings Panel of Economists; the National Bureau of Economic Research
; and the Board of Adviser's of the Chinese Economists Society, among other international organizations.
Sachs has received honorary degree
s from Connecticut College
; Lehigh University
; Pace University
; the State University of New York
; Cracow University of Economics; Ursinus College
; Whitman College
; the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
; Ohio Wesleyan University
; the College of the Atlantic
; Southern Methodist University
; Simon Fraser University
; McGill University
; Southern New Hampshire University
; St. John's University; Iona College
; University of St. Gallen
in Switzerland
; the Lingnan College of Hong Kong; and the University of Economics Varna
in Bulgaria
.
Sachs is first holder of the Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Chair in Poverty Studies at the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies at the University of Malaya
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 2007-2009. In addition, he holds an honorary professorship at the Universidad del Pacifico
in Peru
. He has lectured at the London School of Economics
, the University of Oxford
, and Yale University
, as well as in Tel Aviv
and Jakarta
.
In early 2007, the Sachs for President Draft Committee was formed to encourage Sachs to run for President of the United States
in the 2008 election
.
In September 2008, Vanity Fair magazine ranked Sachs 98th on its list of 100 members of the New Establishment.
In July 2009, Sachs became a member of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
's International Advisory Board.
and many books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (Penguin, 2005) and Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
(Penguin, 2008).
He currently writes a monthly foreign affairs column for Project Syndicate
, a nonprofit association of newspapers around the world that is circulated in 145 countries. He is also a frequent contributor to major publications such as the Financial Times
, Scientific American
, and Time Magazine.
Sachs is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post
where he writes commentary about aid issues such as G20 outcomes, as well as addressing his critics such as Dambisa Moyo
and William Easterly
.
with his wife Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, a pediatrician. They have three children: Lisa, Adam, and Hannah Sachs.
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and Director of The Earth Institute
The Earth Institute
The Earth Institute was established at Columbia University in 1995. The research institute's stated mission is to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world's poor...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. One of the youngest economics professors
Professors in the United States
In the U.S., "Professors" commonly occupy any of several positions in academia, typically the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor....
in the history of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the implementation of so-called economic shock therapy
Shock therapy (economics)
In economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large scale privatization of previously public owned assets....
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
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, debt cancellation, and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
.
Sachs is the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs
School of International and Public Affairs
The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University is one of the most prestigious graduate schools of public policy in the world. Located on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the School has 15,000 graduates in more than 150...
and a Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia's School of Public Health
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health is one of the schools of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the first schools of public health recognized by the Council on Education for Public Health and remains a leading academic and research institution. The beginnings of the school...
. He is Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
Ban Ki-Moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
, and the founder and co-President of the Millennium Promise Alliance
Millennium Promise
Millennium Promise, or The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime...
, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty
Extreme poverty
Extreme poverty, as defined in 1996 by Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World, is:"The lack of basic security connotes the absence of one or more factors enabling individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights. The situation may become...
and hunger
Hunger
Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.-Malnutrition, famine, starvation:...
. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the United Nations Millennium Project
United Nations Millennium Project
The Millennium Project is an initiative that focuses on research implementing the organizational means, operational priorities, and financing structures necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals or . The goals are aimed at the reduction of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy,...
's work on the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
, eight internationally sanctioned objectives to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, and disease by the year 2015. Since 2010 he has also served as a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development
Broadband Commission for Digital Development
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was established in May 2010 as a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization...
, which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.
He has authored numerous books, including The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time is a 2005 book by American economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was a New York Times bestseller....
and Common Wealth
Common Wealth (book)
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet is a 2008 New York Times bestseller book by economist Jeffrey Sachs. Jeffrey Sachs began promoting electric vehicles in this book ....
, both New York Times bestsellers and his latest book The Price of Civilization released on October 4, 2011. He has been named one of Time Magazines "100 Most Influential People in the World"
Time 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
twice, in 2004 and 2005.
Academic career
Sachs was raised in Oak ParkOak Park, Michigan
As of the census of 2000, there were 29,793 people, 11,104 households, and 7,595 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,863.8 persons per square mile . There were 11,370 housing units at an average density of 2,263.9 per square mile...
, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, and graduated from Oak Park High School
Oak Park High School (Michigan)
Oak Park High School is a public high school located in Oak Park, Michigan an inner suburb of Detroit. The school is part of the Oak Park School district...
. He attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, where he received his B.A. summa cum laude in 1976. He went on to receive his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
from Harvard, and was invited to join the Harvard Society of Fellows
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Harvard Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginning of their careers by Harvard University for extraordinary scholarly potential, upon whom distinctive academic and intellectual opportunities are bestowed in order to foster their individual growth and intellectual...
while still a Harvard graduate student. In 1980, he joined the Harvard faculty as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982. A year later, at the age of 29, Sachs became a Full Professor of economics with tenure at Harvard.
During the next 19 years at Harvard, he became the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade, the Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development
Harvard Institute for International Development
The Harvard Institute for International Development was a think-tank dedicated to helping nations join the global economy, operating between 1974 and 2000...
at the Kennedy School of Government (1995–1999), and the Director of the Center for International Development (1999–2002).
After the Center for International Development failed to attract sustainable funding or broad scholarly involvement, Sachs resigned from Harvard in March 2002 to become the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City. He is currently the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and he is also a professor for Columbia's Department of Economics and Department of Health Policy and Management. His classes are taught at the School of International and Public Affairs
School of International and Public Affairs
The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University is one of the most prestigious graduate schools of public policy in the world. Located on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the School has 15,000 graduates in more than 150...
, the Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health is one of the schools of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the first schools of public health recognized by the Council on Education for Public Health and remains a leading academic and research institution. The beginnings of the school...
, and his course "Challenges of Sustainable Development" is taught at the undergraduate level.
Work on Latin America and post-communist economies - The Shock Therapy
Sachs is known for his work as an economic adviser to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. A trained macroeconomist, he advised a number of national governments in the transition from communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
to market economies.
In 1985, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
was undergoing hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
and was unable to pay back its debt to the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
(IMF). Sachs, an economic adviser to the Bolivian government at the time, drew up an extensive plan, later known as shock therapy, to drastically cut inflation by liberalizing the Bolivian market, ending government subsidies, eliminating quotas
Import quota
An import quota is a type of protectionist trade restriction that sets a physical limit on the quantity of a good that can be imported into a country in a given period of time....
, and linking the Bolivian economy to the US Dollar. After Sachs' plan was implemented, inflation fell from 11,750% to 15% per year from 1985 to 1987.
In 1990, the Polish government introduced shock therapy to break from communism. Sachs and ex-IMF economist David Lipton advised the rapid conversion of all property and assets from public to private ownership. In Poland, Sachs was firmly on the side of rapid transition to "normal" capitalism. At first he proposed U.S.-style corporate structures, with professional managers answering to many shareholders and a large economic role for stock markets. That didn't fly with the Polish authorities, but, after, he proposed that large blocks of the shares of privatized companies would be placed in the hands of private banks. As a result there were some economic shortages and inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, but after prices in Poland eventually stabilized.
In late 1991, the Russian government invited Harvard to give advice on reproducing the Polish experience. Harvard economist Andrei Shleifer
Andrei Shleifer
Andrei Shleifer is a Russian American economist. From its inauguration in 1992 until it was shut down in 1997, Shleifer served as project director of the Harvard Institute for International Developments Russian aid project...
advised President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
on privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
and macroeconomic issues during the early stages of Russia's reforms. Sachs advised Russia (under the Yeltsin administration) for two years from December 1991 to January 1994.
Work on global economic development
More recently, Sachs has turned to global issues of economic developmentEconomic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
, poverty alleviation, health and aid policy, and environmental sustainability. He has written extensively on climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, disease control
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, and is one of the world's leading experts on sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
.
In his 2005 work, The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time is a 2005 book by American economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was a New York Times bestseller....
, Sachs wrote "Africa's governance is poor because Africa is poor." According to Sachs, with the right policies and key interventions, extreme poverty
Extreme poverty
Extreme poverty, as defined in 1996 by Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World, is:"The lack of basic security connotes the absence of one or more factors enabling individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights. The situation may become...
— defined as living on less than $1 a day — can be eradicated within 20 years. India and China serve as examples, with the latter lifting 300 million people out of extreme poverty during the last two decades. Sachs believes a key element to accomplishing this is raising aid from $65 billion in 2002 to $195 billion a year by 2015. He emphasizes the role of geography and climate, with much of Africa suffering from being landlocked and disease-prone. However, he stresses that these problems can be overcome.
Sachs suggests that with improved seeds, irrigation, and fertilizer, the crop yields in Africa and other places with subsistence farming can be increased from 1 ton/hectare to 3-5 tons/hectares. He reasons that increased harvests would significantly increase the income of subsistence farmers, thereby reducing poverty. Sachs does not believe that increased aid is the only solution. He also supports establishing credit and microloan programs
Microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
, which are often lacking in impoverished areas. Sachs has also advocated the distribution of free insecticide-treated bed nets to combat malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. The economic impact of malaria has been estimated to cost Africa US$12 billion per year. Sachs estimates that malaria can be controlled for US$3 billion per year, thus suggesting that anti-Malaria projects would be an economically justified investment.
From 2002 to 2006, Sachs was the Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to then Secretary-General
Secretary-General
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
on the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
. Sachs founded the Millennium Villages Project
Millennium Villages Project
The Millennium Villages Project is a project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the United Nations Development Programme, and Millennium Promise....
, a plan dedicated to ending extreme poverty in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
through targeted agricultural, medical, and educational interventions. Along with philanthropist Ray Chambers
Ray Chambers
Raymond G. Chambers currently serves as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. He was appointed to this position by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in February 2008...
, Sachs founded Millennium Promise
Millennium Promise
Millennium Promise, or The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime...
, a nonprofit organization, to help the Earth Institute fund and operate the Millennium Villages Project.
Now a Special Adviser to current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
, Sachs is still a leading advocate for the Millennium Development Goals, frequently meeting with foreign dignitaries
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and heads of state. He has also become a close friend of international celebrities Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, both of whom have traveled to Africa with Sachs to witness the progress of the Millennium Villages.
Sachs has been a consistent critic of the IMF and its policies around the world. He has blasted the international bankers for what he sees as a pattern of ineffective investment strategies.
Criticisms
One of Sachs' strongest critics is William EasterlyWilliam Easterly
William Russell Easterly is an American economist, specializing in economic growth and foreign aid. He is a Professor of Economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings...
, a professor of economics at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. Easterly reproached The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time is a 2005 book by American economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was a New York Times bestseller....
in his review for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and Easterly's 2006 book White Man's Burden is an even more thorough rebuttal of Sachs' argument that poor countries are stuck in a "poverty trap
Poverty trap
A poverty trap is "any self-reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist." If it persists from generation to generation, the trap begins to reinforce itself if steps are not taken to break the cycle.-Developing world:...
" from which there is no escape, except by massively scaled-up foreign aid, though Sachs himself has clearly emphasized the need for a complex, multi-faceted, clinical and unique approach to economic development, of which increased and responsible foreign aid is nearly always a necessary but insufficient part. Easterly presents statistical evidence that he claims proves that many emerging markets
Emerging markets
Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...
attained their higher status without large amounts of foreign aid as Sachs proposes.
Another Sachs critic is Amir Attaran
Amir Attaran
Amir Attaran is a Canadian lawyer, immunologist, and law professor.Currently, Attaran is Associate Professor of Law and Population Health and the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa.-Early life and education:Attaran...
, a scientist and lawyer who holds the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development at the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
. Sachs and Attaran have worked closely as colleagues, including coauthoring a famous study in The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
documenting the dearth of foreign aid money
Aid
In international relations, aid is a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, given at least partly with the objective of benefiting the recipient country....
to fight HIV/AIDS in the 1990s, which led to the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. However, Sachs and Attaran part company in their opinion of the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
(MDG), and Attaran argued in a paper published in PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering the full spectrum of the medical sciences. It began operation on October 19, 2004. It was the second journal of the Public Library of Science , a non-profit open-access publisher. All content in PLoS Medicine is published under the Creative...
and an editorial in the New York Times that the United Nations has misled people by setting specific, but immeasurable, targets for the MDGs (for example, to reduce maternal mortality or malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
). Sachs dismissed that view in a reply to PLoS Medicine by saying that only a handful of the MDGs are immeasurable, but Attaran then cited the United Nations' own data analysis (which the UN subsequently blocked from public access) showing that progress on a very large majority of the MDGs is never measured.
Sachs has also been criticized by leftists for having an overly neoliberal perspective on the economy. Nancy Holmstrom and Richard Smith pointed out that, in advising implementation of his shock therapy
Shock therapy (economics)
In economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large scale privatization of previously public owned assets....
on the collapsing Soviet Union, Sachs "supposed the transition to capitalism would be a natural, virtually automatic economic process: start by abandoning state planning, free up prices, promote private competition with state-owned industry, and sell off state industry as fast as possible…". They go on to cite the drastic decreases in industrial output
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
over the ensuing years, a nearly halving of the country's GDP and of personal income
Personal Income
In economics, personal income refers to an individual's total earnings from wages, investment enterprises, and other ventures....
s, a doubling of the suicide rate, and a skyrocketing unemployment rate. The Lancet has recently reported that rapid privatization of the Soviet Union caused a 12.8% death rate increase among males in just two years, a claim that The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
attributed to alcoholism, though The Lancet article attributed the rise in alcoholism to changes in the economy.
Accolades and affiliations
Sachs is the recipient of many awards and honors. In 2004 and 2005, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time MagazineTime 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
. He was also named one of the "500 Most Influential People in the Field of Foreign Policy" by the World Affairs Councils of America
World Affairs Councils of America
The World Affairs Councils of America represents and supports the largest national non-partisan network of local councils that are dedicated to educating, inspiring and engaging Americans in international affairs and the critical global issues of our times. The network consists of 94 councils in 40...
.
In February 2002, Nature Magazine stated that Sachs "has revitalized public health thinking since he brought his financial mind to it." In 1993 he was cited in the New York Times Magazine as "probably the most important economist in the world." In 1994, Time Magazine called him "the world's best-known economist." In 1997, the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
magazine Le Nouvel Observateur
Le Nouvel Observateur
Le Nouvel Observateur is a weekly French newsmagazine. Based in Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation ....
cited Sachs as one of the world's 50 most important leaders on globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
.
In 2005, he received the Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice. In 2007, Sachs was awarded the Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
, a high civilian honor bestowed by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. Also in 2007, he received the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution International Advocate for Peace Award as well as the Centennial Medal
Harvard Centennial Medal
The Harvard Centennial Medal is an honor given by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to recipients of graduate degrees from the School for their "contributions to society."...
from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the academic unit responsible for many post-baccalaureate degree programs offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University...
for his contributions to society.
From 2000 to 2001, Sachs was Chairman of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health of the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, and from 1999 to 2000 he served as a member of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission
International Financial Institution Advisory Commission
The International Financial Institution Advisory Commission, also known as the Meltzer Commission — named for its chair, Professor Allan Meltzer — was established by the United States Congress in November 1998 "to recommend future US policy toward several multilateral institutions: the IMF, the...
established by the U.S. Congress. Sachs has been an adviser to the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, and the United Nations Development Program. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
; Harvard Society of Fellows
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Harvard Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginning of their careers by Harvard University for extraordinary scholarly potential, upon whom distinctive academic and intellectual opportunities are bestowed in order to foster their individual growth and intellectual...
; the Fellows of the World Econometric Society; the Brookings Panel of Economists; the National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...
; and the Board of Adviser's of the Chinese Economists Society, among other international organizations.
Sachs has received honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
s from Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
; Lehigh University
Lehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
; Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
; the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
; Cracow University of Economics; Ursinus College
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.-History:1867Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where "young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity." These founders were hoping to...
; Whitman College
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
; the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an American medical school in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, currently ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the United States. It was chartered by Mount Sinai Hospital in 1963....
; Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...
; the College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic
The College of the Atlantic, founded in 1969, is a private, alternative liberal-arts college located in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. It awards a bachelor's degree solely in the field of human ecology, though with a variety of emphases. The college is small, with...
; Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
; Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
; McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
; Southern New Hampshire University
Southern New Hampshire University
Southern New Hampshire University, also known as SNHU, is a private university in Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The university is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and also has numerous specialized...
; St. John's University; Iona College
Iona College (New York)
Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....
; University of St. Gallen
University of St. Gallen
The University of St. Gallen is a public research university located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It is specialized in the fields of business administration, economics, law, and international affairs. The University of St. Gallen is also known as HSG, which is an abbreviation of its former German...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
; the Lingnan College of Hong Kong; and the University of Economics Varna
University of Economics Varna
The idea for opening University of economics in Varna, Bulgaria was born in 1911 when the foundation of the building was laid. The university was founded on 14 May 1920. It is the oldest university for economic sciences in Bulgaria and the second oldest university in the country after Sofia...
in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
Sachs is first holder of the Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Chair in Poverty Studies at the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies at the University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 2007-2009. In addition, he holds an honorary professorship at the Universidad del Pacifico
University of the Pacific (Peru)
University of the Pacific is a small private university in the Jesús María District of Lima, Peru. It was established in 1962 by a group of Peruvian entrepreneurs supported by the Society of Jesus...
in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. He has lectured at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, as well as in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
and Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
.
In early 2007, the Sachs for President Draft Committee was formed to encourage Sachs to run for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in the 2008 election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
.
In September 2008, Vanity Fair magazine ranked Sachs 98th on its list of 100 members of the New Establishment.
In July 2009, Sachs became a member of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a non-profit, international development organisation, established in the Netherlands in 1965.SNV aims to alleviate poverty by enabling increased income and employment opportunities and increasing access to basic services...
's International Advisory Board.
Publications
Sachs is the author of hundreds of academic articlesAcademic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
and many books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (Penguin, 2005) and Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
Common Wealth (book)
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet is a 2008 New York Times bestseller book by economist Jeffrey Sachs. Jeffrey Sachs began promoting electric vehicles in this book ....
(Penguin, 2008).
He currently writes a monthly foreign affairs column for Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate is an international not-for-profit newspaper syndicate and association of newspapers. It distributes commentaries and analysis by experts, activists, Nobel laureates, statesmen, economists, political thinkers, business leaders and academics to its member publications, and...
, a nonprofit association of newspapers around the world that is circulated in 145 countries. He is also a frequent contributor to major publications such as the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
, and Time Magazine.
Sachs is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
where he writes commentary about aid issues such as G20 outcomes, as well as addressing his critics such as Dambisa Moyo
Dambisa Moyo
Dr. Dambisa Moyo is an international economist and New York Times best-selling author of both Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way For Africa, published in 2009, and How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly - And the Stark Choices that Lie Ahead, published in...
and William Easterly
William Easterly
William Russell Easterly is an American economist, specializing in economic growth and foreign aid. He is a Professor of Economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings...
.
Selected works
- Sachs, Jeffrey (October 4, 2011). The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and ProsperityThe Price of Civilization (book)The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity is a book by economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was published by Random House on October 4, 2011 in the US and by Bodley Head . The book is 336 pages...
Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
ISBN-13: 978-1400068418 - Sachs, Jeffrey (2008). Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded PlanetCommon Wealth (book)Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet is a 2008 New York Times bestseller book by economist Jeffrey Sachs. Jeffrey Sachs began promoting electric vehicles in this book ....
Penguin Press HC ISBN 978-1-59420-127-1 - Humphreys, Macartan, Sachs, Jeffrey, and Stiglitz, Joseph (eds.). "Escaping the Resource Curse" Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
ISBN 978-0-231-14196-3 - Sachs, Jeffrey (2005). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Penguin Press HC ISBN 1-59420-045-9
- Sachs, Jeffrey (2003). Macroeconomics in the Global Economy Westview PressWestview PressWestview Press is an American publishing house. It publishes textbooks and scholarly works for an academic audience.Westview was founded in 1975 in Boulder, Colorado by Fred Praeger. The press was sold in 1991 to SCS Communications. HarperCollins acquired the company in 1995. Since 1998, it has...
ISBN 0-631-22004-6 - Sachs, Jeffrey (2002). A New Global Effort to Control Malaria (Science), Vol. 298, October 4, 2002
- Sachs, Jeffrey (2002). Resolving the Debt Crisis of Low-Income Countries (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity), 2002:1
- Sachs, Jeffrey (2001). The Strategic Significance of Global Inequality (The Washington Quarterly), Vol. 24, No. 3, Summer 2001
- Sachs, Jeffrey (1997). Development Economics Blackwell Publishers ISBN 0-8133-3314-8
- Sachs, Jeffrey and Pistor, Katharina. (1997). The Rule of Law and Economic Reform in Russia (John M. Olin Critical Issues Series (Paper)) Westview PressWestview PressWestview Press is an American publishing house. It publishes textbooks and scholarly works for an academic audience.Westview was founded in 1975 in Boulder, Colorado by Fred Praeger. The press was sold in 1991 to SCS Communications. HarperCollins acquired the company in 1995. Since 1998, it has...
ISBN 0-8133-3314-8 - Sachs, Jeffrey (1994). Poland's Jump to the Market Economy (Lionel Robbins Lectures) MIT PressMIT PressThe MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
ISBN 0-262-69174-4 - Sachs, Jeffrey (1993). Macroeconomics in the Global Economy Prentice HallPrentice HallPrentice Hall is a major educational publisher. It is an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6-12 and higher-education market. Prentice Hall distributes its technical titles through the Safari...
ISBN 0-13-102252-0 - Sachs, Jeffrey (ed) (1991). Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, Volume 1 : The International Financial System (National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report) University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
ISBN 0-226-73332-7 - Sachs, Jeffrey and Warwick McKibbinWarwick McKibbinWarwick McKibbin is an Australian Professor of Economics at the Australian National University who works across a wide range of areas in applied policy...
Global Linkages: Macroeconomic Interdependence and Co-operation in the World Economy, Brookings InstitutionBrookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, June, 277 pages. (ISBN 0-8157-5600-3) - Sachs, Jeffrey (ed) (1989). Developing Country Debt and the World Economy (National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report) University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
ISBN 0-226-73338-6 - Bruno, Michael and Sachs, Jeffrey (1984), "Stagflation in the World Economy"
Personal
Sachs lives in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his wife Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, a pediatrician. They have three children: Lisa, Adam, and Hannah Sachs.
Other
- Column archive at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(since 2002) - A Bridge for the Carmakers (Washington Post, 2008-11-16).
- Podcast, University of Sydney, Economics for a Crowded Planet Public lecture, Sydney Ideas, July 14, 2008
- Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, on BUniverse, Boston University's video lecture archive.
- Jeffrey Sach's Reith lectures hosted by the Royal Society in London, during April and May 2007
- Article on Jeff Sachs in the Yale Economic Review
- Interview on PBS' Commanding Heights
- Interview on The Colbert Report, March 2006
- Economics for a Crowded Planet (video)
- Audio/Video recording of Jeffrey Sachs lecture as part of the University of Chicago World Beyond the Headlines series.
- Sachs addresses Harvard Law students in the Harvard Law RecordHarvard Law RecordThe Harvard Law Record is an independent, biweekly student-edited newspaper based at Harvard Law School. Founded in 1946, it is the oldest law school newspaper in the United States.-Characteristics:...
- Asia Society Video: Jeffrey Sachs on Water Security Issues in Asia April 17, 2009
- Jeffrey Sachs Speaker Biography on the World Business ForumWorld Business ForumThe World Business Forum is an annual global business summit held in New York City. A 2008 Burson-Marsteller survey ranks the World Business Forum among the world's top five most influential venues for CEO's and C-Suite executives...
where Sachs is a featured speaker for the 2009 event - Audio: Jeffrey Sachs in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The ForumThe Forum (BBC World Service)The Forum is the BBC World Service's flagship discussion programme. It brings together prominent thinkers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to try and create stimulating discussion, informed by highly distinct academic, artistic and cultural backgrounds.-Format:Each...
- Bio from Leigh Bureau