Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Paperback)

by Jeffrey D. Sachs (Author) "THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WILL OVERTURN many of our basic assumptions about economic life..." (more)
Key Phrases: medium forecast, social outlays, youth bulge, United States, Middle East, Millennium Promises (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this sobering but optimistic manifesto, development economist Sachs (The End of Poverty) argues that the crises facing humanity are daunting—but solutions to them are readily at hand. Sachs focuses on four challenges for the coming decades: heading off global warming and environmental destruction; stabilizing the world's population; ending extreme poverty; and breaking the political logjams that hinder global cooperation on these issues. The author analyses economic data, demographic trends and climate science to create a lucid, accessible and suitably grim exposition of looming problems, but his forte is elaborating concrete, pragmatic, low-cost remedies complete with benchmarks and budgets. Sachs's entire agenda would cost less than 3% of the world's annual income, and he notes that a mere two days' worth of Pentagon spending would fund a comprehensive antimalaria program for Africa, saving countless lives. Forthright government action is the key to avoiding catastrophe, the author contends, not the unilateral, militarized approach to international problems that he claims is pursued by the Bush administration. Combining trenchant analysis with a resounding call to arms, Sachs's book is an important contribution to the debate over the world's future. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
“Lucid, quietly urgent, and relentlessly logical... this is Bigthink with a capital B.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Jeffrey Sachs never disappoints. . . . This book is an excellent resource for all those who want to understand what changes the twenty-first century may bring.”
—Kofi Annan, winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize and former secretary-general of the United Nations

“Common Wealth explains the most basic economic reckoning that the world faces.”
—Al Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and former vice president of the United States

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143114875
• ISBN-13: 978-0143114871
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,399 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Grandiose Solutions...But How Realistic?, June 20, 2008

By	Peter Kobs "Sneaky Creekers" (Battle Creek, MI, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Hardcover)

My local church is devoting the next several months to promoting the UN's eight "Millennium Development Goals," which have been formally endorsed by the Episcopal Church USA. I read "Commonwealth" to get new insights about the many challenges, obstacles and opportunities we face in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, the author's conclusions left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied -- you could even say "intellectually malnourished." Jeffrey Sachs is no doubt a brilliant thinker who sees the big picture, but I question his sense of realism.

For example, when Sachs says, with great confidence, that there is plenty of fossil fuel to sustain continued global growth until at least the year 2100 -- I wonder if he reads the newspaper on a regular basis. The current spike in oil prices illustrates the dramatic political dangers inherent in today's world energy market. His calm prescriptions for transitioning to both liquefied coal and renewable energy forms doesn't seem to ring true. We may end up in a very dark place long before that happens (e.g., massive increases in hunger, regional wars, resource riots, etc.).

Much of the rest of the book makes good sense, but it's so general and broad as to be almost "untestable" in the real world. Saying we should invest in the development and adoption of environmentally sustainable technology is sort of like saying we should remember to breathe: "Yeah, OK, but give me some specifics here, Jeffery!"

Sachs comes off sounding like a politician who doesn't want to be held accountable for campaign promises, so he hedges every statement with a long-term perspective and a truckload of weasel words (implied disclaimers). It's not particularly honest, if you ask me.

In my research for the church program, I found MUCH MORE useful the list of 30 specific solutions developed by the Copenhagen Consensus 2008. They are hard-nosed, pragmatic and very testable. [...]

My advice for Sachs: Come down from the 60,000 foot view and give us "foot soldiers of change" something more useful -- something less cognitive and more practical.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Rising Costs of Environmental Degradation, April 26, 2008

By	Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Hardcover)

With the publication of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time just a few years ago, Jeffrey Sachs estimated that it would take annual donations of 135 to 190 billion dollars by rich countries to eradicate poverty by 2025. Those were the UN Millenium Development Goals of 2000. But much has happened since then. Economic development has accelerated and not because of development aid, it was mostly due to globalization or market forces. The unfortunate by-product of this development has been enviromental stress. In order to continue development in a sustainable way and also reach areas of sub-Sahara Africa, the price tag will go up. According to Sachs, it will now require 840 billion dollars or about 2.4 percent of rich-world income. This is still a bargain when one considers the alternative.

Sachs is obviously a liberal with a grandiose plan that many will call utopian. He has been famously criticized by conservatives such as William Easterly in The White Man's Burden. Conservatives are not keen on large-scale plans in general, and they are generally cynical about what governments and humanitarian aid agencies can accomplish. However, in spite of their differences, Sachs and Easterly share some common ground. They both believe that small targeted projects that are either monitored or bypass corrupt government officials can be effective. Sachs is at his best when he draws on work done at the Earth Institute, of which he is director. The scientific farming techniques that he advocates are essential to the survival of the human race that is becoming predominantly urban.

Eradicating poverty is in everyone's interest since it slows down population growth. If the global population continues to grow at its current rate, reaching 10 billion at mid-century, our resources will be depleted. It is unrealistic for national governments or international organizations to try and control population growth. Only with economic security and widely distributed wealth will populations levels stabalize.

Sachs argues in the final chapter (The Power of One) that global cooperation is needed to solve the problems of poverty, overpopulation, pandemics, pollution, climate change, and scarcities of water, arable land and resources. This sounds naive and utopian but it is also true. National governments, however, will only be looking at their own short-term interests. But as environmental catastrophes start to mount, whether it's food shortages or rising sea-levels, governments will take action, but by then it might be too late.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Optimistic Sachs Valiantly Makes Sustainable Development More Than a Pipe Dream, July 10, 2008

By	Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Hardcover)

In a lucidly written book reflecting a grave urgency, economist Jeffrey Sachs (The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time) states that by the year 2050, the world will have 9.2 billion inhabitants, a traumatizing increase from the 2.6 billion people we have now. It's an unprecedented population explosion that everyone agrees will prove toxic in combination with the perils of climate change. Coastal urban zones will become so densely inhabited that the inevitable Katrina-level cyclones will be all the more devastating, while obesity and heart disease become more pervasive. Even within such a fatalistic vision, it will probably strike many readers as sacrilege that Sachs has taken the stance that free market forces will not overcome the sustainability crisis that faces our planet today. Currently as Director of Columbia University's Earth Institute and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the author lends a uniquely global perspective to what he views as the inevitable fate of humanity should we not change course immediately.

Sachs believes there are three steps necessary in realizing sustainable development that could avert certain tragedy from dramatic climate change and global warming. The first consists of bolstering sustainable technologies within a short period of time and on a global scale. The second is to take the necessary preventative measures to stabilize global population, especially in Africa. The third step is to minimize national borders to help developing countries to escape poverty. His roadmap indicates that the cost to achieve humanity's shared objectives is comparatively low when considering the dire consequences. He believes the cost of stabilizing levels of carbon in the atmosphere will amount to less than one-percent of the world's annual income. Eradicating poverty will prove marginally more costly since measures to slow population growth and raise standards of living in the poorest countries will cost the rich nations two-to-three percent of their gross national product.

The author makes a compelling argument that there is no shortage of resources on Earth, and in fact, the barriers we face are self-imposed as they reflect our limited capacity to cooperate. Sachs aims much of the blame on recent U.S. administrations, which have bypassed the global leadership responsibilities of the previous generations to fund wasteful wars with no clear purpose. Meanwhile, he shows that China and India have emerged as the great new powers and have to be accommodated to be a true part of the international system, preferably without the need for a world war. There is no doubt that Sachs provides a powerfully compelling argument, but it also seems overly optimistic. Finding a common truth among nations and international organizations with singular objectives has proven elusive, and there is no evidence that a major epiphany appears nowhere in sight.

The subtext within Sachs's seemingly logical book can come across periodically as over-simplistic, especially as he keeps reiterating his strongly-held belief that we could solve all the problems we face if only we all acted in a rational manner. However, he ignores the simple fact that emotions like fear, neurosis and desire can also drive economic decisions. In turn, his advice comes in the form of how-to, multi-step lists which tend to trivialize matters. Most are on the macro level, but he also provides a list of eight actions - including learning and traveling - that each of us can take on to fulfill the hopes of subsequent generations in encouraging sustainable development. One can conclude that living in a sustainable manner is harder in actual practice than Sachs acknowledges even with trade, technology and common markets making for an increasingly borderless world. The potential for collaboration is there but so are the nationalistic feelings that prevent the goal of a greater good. The elements of successful sustainability are there, according to Sachs, but one questions if the spirit is really willing.