Global Crises, Global Solutions

by Bjørn Lomborg (Editor)

11 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0521606141

ISBN-10: 0521606144

Why is ISBN important?

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 4 versions

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Cherry Creek Books

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

FREE delivery January 26 - 31. Details

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Ships from and sold by fortbc.

List Price: $33.99 Details

Save: $20.04 (59%)

$3.99 delivery January 25 - February 1. Details

This volume provides a uniquely rich set of arguments and data for prioritizing our responses to some of the most serious problems facing the world today, such as climate change, communicable diseases, conflicts, education, financial instability, corruption, migration, malnutrition and hunger, trade barriers, and water access. Leading economists evaluate the evidence for costs and benefits of various programs to help gauge how we can achieve the most good with our money. Each problem is introduced by a world-renowned expert analyzing the scale of the problem and describing the costs and benefits of a range of policy options to improve the situation. Shorter pieces from experts offering alternative positions are also included; all ten challenges are evaluated by a panel of economists from North America, Europe, and China who rank the most promising policy options. Global Crises, Global Solutions provides a serious, yet accessible, springboard for debate and discussion and will be required reading for government employees, NGOs, scholars and students of public policy and applied economics, and anyone with a serious professional or personal interest in global development issues. Bjørn Lomborg is Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Aarhus and the director of the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute. He is also the author of the controversial bestseller, The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge, 2001).

Review

"This very useful compilation will serve to advance thinking and stimulate debate on these and related important contemporary global concerns." A.R. Sanderson, University of Chicago, CHOICE

"A hugely sensible book about global health and environmental problems, based on the 'Copenhagen Consensus' project documented in The Economist. Its authors, eminent economists, recognise that the resources to tackle such problems are finite and need to be applied where they are most likely to be effective. Better, for instance, to spend resources on the immediate problem of AIDS in Africa than the more distant one of global warming. This book is a healthy antidote to the narrow views of single-issue pressure groups." the Economist "Best Books of the Year"

"Especially recommended reading for government employees, non-governmental organizations, students of public policy and applied economics, and any individual with a direct personal or professional interest in global development issues." BOOKWATCH

Book Description

Leading economists, including three Nobel prize winners, evaluate ten serious global challenges.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (November 15, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 670 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521606144
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521606141
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.87 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,452,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,324 in Business Development
- #3,414 in Development & Growth Economics (Books)
- #8,264 in Environmental Economics (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		37%
4 star		18%
3 star		30%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		16%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Glenn Gallagher

Global Crises, Global Solutions - Heavy on Economics

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2008

Verified Purchase

Global Crises, Global Solutions; edited by Bjorn Lomborg, who brought us The Environmental Skeptic, has produced a collection of articles where experts attempt to prioritize which global problems should be dealt with, and how they should be solved. Although an excellent idea, the actual writing is extremely academic and not very easy to read. Essentially, the articles are a series of cost-benefit analyses on specific problems of global warming, conflict, communicable disease, etc. I am not an economist, and found the writing to be almost impenetrable at times, because the authors assume the reader has a very firm understanding of economics and economic jargon. Four stars for intent, only three stars for readability.

Helpful

W. Wadford

Common sense for climate alarmism

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2009

Verified Purchase

The leftists hate Bjorn Lomborg because he comes up with sensible lower cost adaptation solutions to the alarmist theory of run away global warming rather than the massive government control over everyday Americans the alarmist favor.
He does believe that CO2 is causing some warming but lays out a cogent approach to address the issues.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Highly Recommended!

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2005

This report is an excellent, controversial and refreshing approach to global problems. Daily, the news media and politicians declare that another crisis is urgent. Often, loud, public resolutions accompany these pronouncements. Political blocs form to push through agendas based on those resolutions. The only thing missing from the process is a dispassionate analysis of whether the solutions make economic sense and, if so, which ones make the most economic sense. This book of compiled essays from the Copenhagen Consensus - as documented in The Economist - provides that missing element. The conference drew from United Nations documents to assemble a list of the most urgent problems facing the world and identified those that presented opportunities for solutions. Then it set the task of identifying solutions that would provide the biggest benefit for the cost, examining 38 proposals for spending $50 billion over four years. Surprisingly, some of the most economically rational projects never make headlines and never turn up in public exhortations. When was the last time you saw someone climbing onto a platform to demand mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa? That may not come up nearly as often as adherence to the Kyoto Protocol, which provides a far weaker cost vs. benefit scenario. According to the analysts from Copenhagen, the former seems to be a very sound use of the world's problem-solving resources, but the latter costs a lot and seems to deliver relatively few benefits. We highly recommend this intriguing, sweeping conversation.

44 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Matlock

No Minor Problems Here

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2005

This book talks about ten of the most serious challenges facing the world today:

climate change

communicable diseases

conflicts and arms proliferation

access to educationfinancial instability

governance and corruption

malnutrition and hunger

migration

sanitation and clean water

subsidies and trade barriers.

You certainly can't accuse them of taking on minor issues.

Each issue is introduced by an expert in the field who defines the scale of the problem and describes the costs and benefits of a range of policy options to improve the situation. After that two additional sets of alternate perspectives age given for each proposal.

The one complaint I have is that in the section on conflicts it talks only about civil war. While civil war is not minor (21 major conflicts in 2002 alone) the prospects for the future of conflict between the muslim world and the rest seem to be worthy of a category by itself, and may involve many more people than all 21 civil wars. Perhaps this is another book in its own right.

46 people found this helpful

Helpful

Levente Letso

Bjorn Lomborg: GlobalCrises, Glbal Solutions

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2007

This book appears at the first look about economy. It is not. Its starting premise is the question: if you have limited resources and have to prioritize, what would you do in our global warming situation. It is a hard

headed treatment of the subject matter by a multitude of subject experts. Their complete set of policy proposals then evaluated by eight of the world top economists.

It is interesting, how fast the discussion veers off after discussing the economics into the very conditions enabling or blocking the desirable economic developments, such as conflicts, communicable diseases, sanitation and trade barriers just to mention a few.

The book can be read on two different level.For casual reader and policy maker most the numbers are avoidable and still be a very readable and very thoughtful and interesting material. For those, who want hard numbers and hard details, that is provided too, but not necessary for understanding.

This is the multicolored, multifaceted work of many dedicated individuals who - by the work they are dedicated to perform - are forced to set priorities in expending limited resources. I was surprised by their reasoning, and I trust, so will you be.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

bamboobat

優先順位なんぞという考えは休むに似たり

Reviewed in Japan on June 17, 2005

Verified Purchase

ロンボルグという人物は統計学が専門のようで、きっとランク付けオタクなんだろうな。しかし、何が何でも地球温暖化対策は無駄遣いとしたい必死さは伝わってくる。
人間の体に例えれば地球温暖化対策というものは自分の体全体の健康のケアである。血圧やコレステロール値などなど様々な信号を無視すると全体が駄目になるとまともな人は考えるはずだ。エイズで何人死ぬかどうかというのは、はっきり言って水虫程度の瑣末な問題である。優先順位も何もないのだ。一体彼は地球的危機の優先順位などつけて何をどうしたいというのだろうか？
よくあるたとえでＤＤＴが禁止されなかったらマラリア患者で死亡した人はもっと激減していたはずというものがある。統計学的に真実か？　多分ね。しかし、所詮統計学的真実に過ぎない。それじゃ化学汚染よりもマラリア患者を救う方が優先順位の上位にランクされるべきだとしてＤＤＴは放置していいんですということにはならない。
人間の頭は統計よりももっと上等に出来ていて、統計には表れないリスクもちゃんと計算して判断する。なぜ地球温暖化が問題なのか。それは統計不能の未知なリスクが大き過ぎるからだ。

4 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

See all reviews

Global Crises, Global Solutions