He has been cited by the New York Times Magazine as "probably the most important economist in the world" and by Time as "the world's best-known economist." He has advised an extraordinary range of world leaders and international institutions on the full range of issues related to creating economic success and reducing the world's poverty and misery. Now, at last, he draws on his entire twenty-five-year body of experience to offer a thrilling and inspiring big-picture vision of the keys to economic success in the world today and the steps that are necessary to achieve prosperity for all.

Marrying vivid eyewitness storytelling to his laserlike analysis, Jeffrey Sachs sets the stage by drawing a vivid conceptual map of the world economy and the different categories into which countries fall. Then, in a tour de force of elegance and compression, he explains why, over the past two hundred years, wealth has diverged across the planet in the manner that it has and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the cruel vortex of poverty. The groundwork laid, he explains his methods for arriving, like a clinical internist, at a holistic diagnosis of a country's situation and the options it faces. Rather than deliver a worldview to readers from on high, Sachs leads them along the learning path he himself followed, telling the remarkable stories of his own work in Bolivia, Poland, Russia, India, China, and Africa as a way to bring readers to a broad-based understanding of the array of issues countries can face and the way the issues interrelate. He concludes by drawing on everything he has learned to offer an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that most frequently hold societies back. In the end, he leaves readers with an understanding, not of how daunting the world's problems are, but how solvable they are — and why making the effort is a matter both of moral obligation and strategic self-interest. A work of profound moral and intellectual vision that grows out of unprecedented real-world experience, The End of Poverty is a road map to a safer, more prosperous future for the world.

"Sachs came to fame advising 'shock therapy' for moribund economies in the 1980s (with arguably positive results); more recently, as director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, he has made news with a plan to end global 'extreme poverty' — which, he says, kills 20,000 people a day — within 20 years. While much of the plan has been known to economists and government leaders for a number of years (including Kofi Annan, to whom Sachs is special advisor), this is Sachs's first systematic exposition of it for a general audience, and it is a landmark book. For on-the-ground research in reducing disease, poverty, armed conflict and environmental damage, Sachs has been to more than 100 countries, representing 90% of the world's population. The book combines his practical experience with sharp professional analysis and clear exposition. Over 18 chapters, Sachs builds his case carefully, offering a variety of case studies, detailing small-scale projects that have worked and crunching large amounts of data. His basic argument is that '[W]hen the preconditions of basic infrastructure (roads, power, and ports) and human capital (health and education) are in place, markets are powerful engines of development.' In order to tread 'the path to peace and prosperity,' Sachs believes it is encumbant upon successful market economies to bring the few areas of the world that still need help onto 'the ladder of development.' Writing in a straightfoward but engaging first person, Sachs keeps his tone even whether discussing failed states or thriving ones. For the many who will buy this book but, perhaps, not make it all the way through, chapters 12 through 14 contain the blueprint for Sachs's solution to poverty, with the final four making a rigorous case for why rich countries (and individuals) should collectively undertake it — and why it is affordable for them to do so. If there is any one work to put extreme poverty back onto the global agenda, this is it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"A solid, reasonable argument in which the dismal science offers a brightening prospect for the world's poor." Kirkus Reviews

"[A]n excellent, understandable book on a critical topic and should be required reading for students and participants in public policy as well as those who doubt the problem of world poverty can be solved." Booklist

"This is a serious book by a serious man....He is especially stirring about the desperation of Africa." New Republic

"Professor Sachs has provided a compelling blueprint for eliminating extreme poverty from the world by 2025. Sachs's analysis and proposals are suffused with all the practical experience of his twenty years in the field — working in dozens of countries across the globe to foster economic development and well-being." George Soros, financier and philanthropist

"It's a shame that Sachs's prescriptions are unconvincing because he is resoundingly right about the tragedy of world poverty." Washington Post

"Book and man are brilliant, passionate, optimistic and impatient." The Economist

"Jeffrey Sachs is that rare phenomenon: an academic economist famous for his theories about why some countries are poor and others rich, and also famous for his successful practical work in helping poor countries become richer. In this longawaited, fascinating, clearly and movingly written book, he distills his experience to propose answers to the hard choices now facing the world." Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse

"Paul Wolfowitz should read Jeffrey Sachs's compelling new book." Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek

Now in paperback comes the "New York Times" bestseller--a landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens.

A landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the worldas poorest citizens

Among the most eagerly anticipated books of any year, this landmark exploration of prosperity and poverty distills the life work of an economist Time calls one of the worldas 100 most influential people. Sachsas aim is nothing less than to deliver a big picture of how societies emerge from poverty. To do so he takes readers in his footsteps, explaining his work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, while offering an integrated set of solutions for the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the poorest countries. Marrying passionate storytelling with rigorous analysis and a vision as pragmatic as it is fiercely moral, The End of Poverty is a truly indispensable work.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. He is internationally renowned for his work as economic adviser to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1976, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1980.

Acknowledgements ix
Foreword by Bono xv
Introduction 1

1. Global Family Portrait 5
2. The Spread of Economic Prosperity 26
3. Why Some Countries Fail to Thrive 51
4. Clinical Economics 74
5. Bolivia's High-Altitude Hyperinflation 90
6. Poland's Return to Europe 109
7. Reaping the Whirlwind: Russia's Struggle for Normalcy 131
8. China: Catching Up After Half a Millenium 148
9. India's Market Reforms: The Triumph of Hope Over Fear 170
10. The Voiceless Dying: Africa and Disease 188
11. The Millennium, 9/11, and the United Nations 210
12. On-the-Ground Solutions for Ending Poverty 226
13. Making the Investments Needed to End Poverty 244
14. A Global Compact to End Poverty 266
15. Can the Rich Afford to Help the Poor? 288
16. Myths and Magic Bullets 309
17. Why We Should Do It 329
18. Our Generation's Challenge 347

Works Cited 369
Further Reading 372
Notes 376
Index 385