Book reviews Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty – Economic

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist so you may wonder whether this book contains information relevant for soil scientists. Well, it does! And let me tell you about this book, the author and why this book should be read by soil scientists fascinated by big questions, global issues and readable books. The book title refers John Maynard Keynes' from 1930 " Economic possibilities for our grandchildren ". But Sachs has less patience, not for the grandchildren but in our time; that is, by 2025. And these he considers the economic possibilities for our time: to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015; to end extreme poverty by 2025; and to ensure that poor countries have stepped on the ladder of development by 2025. Sachs is the head of the MDG Project of the UN. The eight MDGs were unanimously agreed to in 2002 by all 191 UN member states. These goals are important targets for cutting poverty in half by the year 2015, compared with a baseline of 1990. Sachs is convinced: they are bold but achievable. The book is in three parts: introductory chapters on poverty, case studies of countries in which Sachs was involved, and synthesis pointing the way ahead to end poverty. Only one-sixth of the global population has a high-income status through consistent economic growth; another two-third has middle-income status with moderate rates of economic growth; and one sixth of all people are stuck in extreme poverty with very low rates of economic growth. Sachs gives an overview of where the poverty occurs (mostly in Africa) and linking it to various factors, for example, crop yields are related to growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. What comes first: economic growth or high yields? But obviously high yields mean high inputs and that can only be done when money is earned and the economy is right. Successes include China where 64% of the population lived on an income below one dollar per day in 1981 but the number was reduced to 17% by 2001. By the year 2050, it is reasonable to suppose that China will reach around half of the Western Europe income average – that is how quickly it can go. For India, he shows how it changed from an impoverished country 25 years ago to high-tech information service country in the world economy in the 1990s. That is why poor countries should …