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How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place (Paperback)

by Bjorn Lomborg (Editor) "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a framework for scientists from across the world to share and evaluate the data generated by a..." (more)
Key Phrases: climate damage, challenge paper, World Bank, Kyoto Protocol, Low Birth Weight (more...)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This abridged version of the much admired Global Crises, Global Solutions pulls together recommendations of the Copenhagen Consensus, a meeting that asked what problems experts and policy-makers should address, given $50 billion to use as they please. Ten areas of inquiry are covered: disease, civil war, education, global warming, trade barriers, population migration, poor or corrupt governance, and water scarcity. Although those involved found many points of agreement, the dissimilar particulars of each case are laid out so that the casual reader can grasp major issues and viewpoints that otherwise might overwhelm. Along with specialists, the overviews of economists are featured in order to give balance to experts more interested in their pet issues. Disclaimers such as "however" appear frequently, an acknowledgement that a long-run view involving complex problems, undeniably confusing economic calculations and the stubborn unpredictability of future events is more than a bit tricky to address; in deference to that reality, each article concludes with an opposing argument from additional researchers present at the Consensus. This small volume reflects an admirable undertaking, gracefully explained for those interested in guarding the future.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
'... it is refreshing to read a book that is about a concrete action rather than simply talking.' New Statesman '... makes for good reading on subjects that I encourage all my students to reflect on.' Times Higher Education Supplement --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (June 12, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521685710
ISBN-13: 978-0521685719
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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#56 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Public Policy
#65 in	Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Globalization
#72 in	Books > Business & Investing > Popular Economics > Policy & Current Events

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

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First Sentence:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a framework for scientists from across the world to share and evaluate the data generated by a range of computer models projecting future changes to atmospheric composition, average temperatures, and climate patterns. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
climate damage, challenge paper

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
World Bank, Kyoto Protocol, Low Birth Weight, Copenhagen Consensus

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 6 books:

Letters from the Antipodes by Michel Butor in Front Matter, and page 95
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker in Front Matter
Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands by Kevin Roberts in Front Matter
The Social Studies (National Society for the Study of Education Yearbooks) (Pt. 2) by Howard Mehlinger in Front Matter
Political Economy (Thoemmes Press - Thoemmes Library of Economics) by Nassau William Senior in Front Matter

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Global Crises, Global Solutions by Bjorn Lomborg

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5.0 out of 5 stars A lot of food for thought about priorities and values..., July 23, 2006

By	Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty (Port Orford, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This book may have a catchy title but it deals with many serious problems. It is an abridged edition of "Global Crises, Global Solutions," a work which brought together recommendations of the Copenhagen Consensus. The 2004 Copenhagen Consensus was an international meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark, and included a debate among 38 of the world's top economists and an expert panel of eight top economists, each of whom prepared a paper on various global problems which were then presented to the whole group for discussion and criticism. The main question put to the conference was certainly a timely one: "If we had an extra $50 billion to put to good use, which problems would we solve first?" Hence the title of the book.

The expert panel inquired into nine global challenges in an order of importance and presented proposals for addressing these challenges. They were guided "predominately by consideration of 'economic costs' and 'benefits'" -- something one would expect from economists considering these issues. The challenges include climate change, the spread of communicable diseases, conflicts and civil wars, access to education, poor governance and corruption, malnutrition and hunger, population migration, sanitation and access to clean water, and subsidies and trade barriers. A tenth challenge dealt with international financial instability, but the panel chose not to come to a view about any proposals to recommend.

The challenge which ranked first of concern to the Copenhagen group was within the area of communicable disease, specifically controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS through new measures of prevention. The estimated cost of this investment was set at $27 billion, more than half of the $50 billion limit. In second place was providing micronutrients, which fell into the malnutrition and hunger category, at a suggested cost of $12 billion. Next was trade liberalization in the subsidies and trade barriers category (minimal cost), then control of malaria within the communicable disease category. These were chosen as the four best opportunities to change the world at this time. Population migration and climate change challenges were at the bottom of the list of proposals. In the book a chapter is devoted to each of the nine major categories and each includes an introduction by an expert or experts, followed by a summary of opposing views by other participants.

As I was reading through the book, I found myself in a constant dialogue with the various writers and with the whole project in general, asking questions and challenging the ranking. I questioned why the HIV/AIDS proposal, for instance, ranked number one. I questioned why the issue of conflicts and civil wars was not ranked at all; it wasn't even included in the ranking table. I questioned why poor governance and corruption was ranked only ninth, below the proposals in the sanitation and access to clean water category. I would have ranked poor governance and corruption as number one or two and would have ranked conflicts and civil wars right before or after it. Why was I so far off from the ranking priorities of these economists?

Then it dawned on me. These were economists! They were all economists! They looked at these challenges from the viewpoint of economists, primarily considering cost-benefit ratios and so forth. Then I recalled something from Lomborg's introduction to the book. He had written: "Why were all the experts economists? Many have questioned this. The goal for the Copenhagen Consensus was to set priorities using the expertise of economists to set economic priorities." And that explained it. I am not a trained economist. I was trained as a political scientist and I was looking at political priorities. From my perspective, little can be achieved regarding disease prevention, access to education, malnutrition and hunger, sanitation and access to clean water, and such, until a political situation is formatted and stabilized. My concern, therefore, would naturally be toward the categories of poor governance and corruption and conflict and civil wars and suggesting proposals to resolve those issues -- first.

This, of course, has nothing to do with who is right and who is wrong, or who possesses the "true" program for making the world a better place. It's a matter of one's perspective. The economists were quite correct in looking at solutions from a cost-benefit point of view. I needed to change my perspective. And the major contribution of this book to my thinking is that it forced me to do so. It didn't take me long to realize that with "only" $50 billion to spend, I would run out of money very fast if I spent it on trying to bring about good governance and eliminate political corruption throughout the world. My ranking would have been "impractical" and most likely doomed to failure. After all, the American government's war and reconstruction in Iraq is costing billions of dollars a month! (And not currently achieving all that much, either.)

So I read back through the book again with a different attitude, adopting a different mindset. I then decided if any realistic, substantial change in the world is to come about, it would have to materialize along the line that these economists had suggested. If we only have $50 billion to spend, then we probably ought to spend it on those goals that can be realistically achieved and these economists were approaching things more realistically than I initially was. If we can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS by spending $27 billion on the problem, then I say "Go for it!" If we can solve a part of the malnutrition and hunger problem by spending $12 billion, then I say "Let's do it!"

This is an excellent book for anyone who wonders: "If I only had $50 billion to spend, how would I make the world a better place to live?" This is a thought-provoking book which will force readers to rethink their priorities and values, and may provide them with a new perspective toward the very real challenges we all face today in the international arena.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Commonsense, March 13, 2009

By	D. Scatena "dps39" (NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I greatly enjoyed this little book as well as the Skeptical Environmentalist. Lomborg applies real world cost-benefit economics to our limited resources. So many so called charitable causes are completely unjustified when compared to other possible uses of the money.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A simple and important idea, November 4, 2007

By	JJ vd Weele "veenspuuter" (Firenze, Italy) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place (Hardcover)

This books reviews the outcomes of the so-called Copenhagen consensus, in which a panel of distinguished economists try to rank the policy solutions to the most important problems that face the world today in terms of their costs and benefits. The problems include climate change, hunger and malnutrition, preventable diseases, conflicts and civil wars etc. The book gives a short outline of each proposed policy presented by experts in the field, then a critical evaluation of each policy and finally a comment of the resulting ranking.

This is an interesting work for several reasons. First, if you are not familiar with the Copenhagen Consensus the book is guaranteed to provoke you. The core idea is at the same time simple and extremely controversial (see below), as is the actually produced ranking. Second, because each chapter treats one problem presented and criticized by experts, it is a good opportunity to become a little bit of an expert yourself.
I say 'a little bit' because the chapters are severely truncated from the earlier, complete version of this book, and leave many open questions. Reading it is therefore rather unsatisfactory at times. At the same time the text is often dry. Saying that this is a popular version that is aimed at the general public solves the first issue but makes the second more salient. Anyway, these presentational issues aside, it is a rewarding shortcut to an important work of global citizenship.

As for the central idea behind the Copenhagen Consensus: I sympathize greatly with it (although I can find some fault with its execution). In this age where everybody talks about globalization, it is about time that somebody took an integrated view to the world's problems. Since it is clear that there is not enough money to solve them all now, a pragmatic approach like this is exactly what is needed.

Some critics object that cost benefit-analysis is demeaning when talking about human life. I think what they really mean is that the costs and benefits that they find important have not been included. Of course cost benefit-analysis has its problems that are also apparent in this book. It fails when uncertainties become too big, and the impact of some problems on future generations is just very hard to estimate. It also has to rely on valuations of human life that are in some instances very controversial.

But the critics have to face the fact that there are no completely satisfactory solutions to these issues. Does that mean we should do nothing? I think that the setup of the conference, based on a discussion of experts that have to convince a jury of economists (experts in cost-benefit judgements), does a good job at minimalizing concerns of inclusiveness and to a lesser extent valuation. It may also interest critics of the economist's panel to know that a panel of international and interdisciplinary students came up with almost exactly the same ranking as the economists did.

What I do find puzzling is the amounts of money allocated to each project. In the setup, each project has a cost chosen by the expert, and can be either wholly adopted or not adopted at all. It would have made more sense to sketch how much can be accomplished by allocating different amounts to each problem and then let the experts decide on the final amounts. Otherwise, a good start, let's hope to see more on this!

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3.0 out of 5 stars Plausible but unconvincing
This book makes plausible and somewhat thought-provoking claims about how an altruist ought to spend money to provide the most benefit to the needy. Read more

Published on June 12, 2007 by Peter McCluskey

3.0 out of 5 stars After "The Skeptical Environmentalist," a disappointment
It appears that Lomborg has reverted to his childhood idealism. Let me don his former mantle as a skeptic. Read more

Published on July 19, 2006 by Graham H. Seibert

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