“The End of Poverty, Economic Possibilities for Our Time”, a three-part book written by American Economist, Jeffery Sachs with the purpose of proposing a world without poverty and the examples of “successful” applied steps to developmental economic structures in failing countries. Sachs currently the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University starts his book with his first hand experiences and analyses of impoverished countries; where they are going wrong; what could be done to change their situation (thought not going the fullest into detail until later in the book); what economically decent or well off countries have done to become successful; and what impoverished countries could structure or incorporate into their land and economies to promote growth.

 Much of the content in The End of Poverty were past experiences of Jeffery Sachs. My favorite part of the book was chapter five, describing his time participating in the economic reforms of Bolivia during their time of hyperinflation. I also appreciated his testimony over the “shock therapy” of Poland during its transition from a communist ruled economy back into Europe’s economy (Chapter six). Sachs too described, the transition of India, China, and Russia, post Cold War. One thing that stood out to me that I hadn’t considered when looking at global economics was the connection between geography (natural resources to an area: rivers, ocean front, timber, ect…) and economic development. When Sachs went into detail of how England became such a power source of Europe due to their isolation as an island and inexpensive sea trade routs, it put geographical importance into perspective for me.

 The foundations of the book cover problems with current poverty stricken countries, successful practices in the past that have taken countries out of economic turmoil and toward economic development, how to implement “successful tactics”, and on a world level what prospering countries (specifically the U.S.) can do as far as foreign aid to take impoverished countries out of their situations. I walked away from this book with the notion that the main purpose of Sachs book was to argue wealthy countries needed to give more in foreign aid. I guess what bothered me most about this book was the lack of tested hypothesis. If the U.S. or any other wealthy nation is to increase foreign aid, I as a citizen, would like to see a success stories of a small villages in Africa receiving a few million and the response/outcome from such a donation. As en example of an impoverished African village, Sachs uses Sauri and the village’s farmers. Sachs took mention of the village’s agricultural struggles (lack of nitrogen rich soil/fertilizers), Sauri’s poor basic health and sanitation, the village’s lack of transportation and communication, and lack of education. Sachs proposed a village like Sauri could see a turn around on a mere $350,000. What I don’t understand is why Sachs has no tested his hypothesis on the village of Sauri if it’s only going to cost $350k?!

 “The End of Poverty” was content rich, but ultimately failed to produce any believable and realistic approaches to solving the World poverty issue by 2025. His principles and ideas revolved around his experiences helping countries out of turmoil, but when looking at countries like Bolivia and Russia, I wouldn’t exactly call them economic success stories. While they might not be viewed as impoverished countries they both remain corrupt, “second world” countries. Perhaps that’s good enough for Sachs; but it’s not good enough to convince me.

 The Book- The End of Poverty, Economic Possibilities of Our Time

The Author: Jeffery D. Sachs

Important Publishing Information:

            ISBN-10: 0143036580

            Publishing Company: Penguin Books

            Reprint Edition (February 28^th, 2006)