The End Of Poverty: Economic Possibilities For Our Time
| Author | Elizabeth Hahn |
| Position | JD and MA (International Affairs) candidate, 2006, at American University |
| Pages | 21 |
Page 69
An old grandmother sits with her ten orphaned grandchildren in a small, dusty Malawian village. Her home is a mud hut, her granddaughter is sick with malaria, and she does not have enough food to feed her family. Her own children, like the majority of their generation in the village, have died of AIDS. Rather than enjoying a well-earned rest from a lifetime of work, this grandmother must find a way to provide for her family. Ill and hungry, she and her family fight for survival each day.
There are roughly one billion people around the world (almost one-sixth of the world's population) in such a position. These people are the extreme poor. Chronically hungry, unable to access health care, lacking safe water and sanitation, and even rudimentary shelter, these people must fight to survive. As Jeffrey Sachs describes, the areas in which they live are caught in a "poverty trap" of "disease, physical isolation, climate stress, [and] environmental degradation." Many of these individuals are further ensnared by political instability and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. Releasing them from this trap seems like a daunting task.
However, according to Mr. Sachs, there is a solution. With the right policies and the correct amount of development aid, this type of extreme poverty can be eliminated by the year 2025. His recent book, The End of Poverty, provides a comprehensive plan to accomplish that task.
Before explaining his plan, Mr. Sachs provides an historical account of how the poor countries became so impoverished in the first place. He begins by noting that, until the early 1800s, almost everyone worldwide was poor. Then the Industrial Revolution commenced and Western economies rapidly began to grow.
Why did the Western economies grow so rapidly while the rest of the world's growth lagged behind? Some people argue that Western economies only grew at the expense of the poor countries. However, Mr. Sachs refutes that argument. Instead, he theorizes that technology, not exploitation, has been the main force behind the long-term increases in income in the rich world. According to Mr. Sachs, this is good news, because it suggests that poor countries need not resign themselves to their positions. All we have to do, Mr. Sachs argues, is help the countries reach the first rung of the economic ladder, and from there they can ascend.
To help them ascend this ladder, Mr. Sachs contends that we must first overhaul traditional development economic theories and use a new method called "clinical economics." This method, based on clinical medicine, has economists acting as doctors and diagnosing their impoverished countries as "patients." To work effectively, the economists must make a diagnosis based on a myriad of factors: the extent of extreme poverty; the economic and fiscal frameworks; physical geography; governance patterns and failures; cultural barriers; and geopolitics. Then the economists must supply an appropriate treatment regimen specific to that country.
These treatment regimens, while tailored specifically to each individual country, are all based on the infusion of additional capital into the countries. According to Mr. Sachs, countries will then use this capital infusion to improve their citizens' health and nutrition, invest in machinery and facilities for business, improve infrastructure, create healthy soil and arable lands, improve public institutions, and increase technical knowledge.
Some readers may wonder if this capital infusion differs from the paternalistic practices that countries have engaged in for decades. According to Mr. Sachs, that skeptical view is unfounded. The money is not a handout, he argues, and countries will not become dependent on the foreign assistance. Instead, the capital infusion is merely a boost up, an investment in the countries to help them overcome their problems and "get their foot on the ladder of development." Once there, the countries will be able to scale the ladder without additional foreign assistance.
Similarly, Mr. Sachs also refutes the suggestion that his plan of capital infusion ignores the human factors of greed and corruption. This suggestion, he argues, is a prejudice against poor countries "grounded in overt racism." Although there have been corrupt leaders in the past, Africa is not poor because its governance is inept or undemocratic. Rather, "Africa's governance is poor because Africa is poor," and thus governance will improve as countries' incomes rise.
To finance the treatment regimens, Mr. Sachs' plan relies heavily on governments to amass and administer the aid. He Page 70 Overall, The End of Poverty is a fascinating and comprehensive book. It takes many conventional views of economic development and turns them upside down. And although The End of Poverty can be technical in places, its moving descriptions of the poorest of the poor inspire and instill a sense of hope in readers. This book is excellent for anyone with a desire to learn more about development economics, no matter their background.
