The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

The End of Poverty may be a triumph. It fulfils the fairytale aspiration towards a better existence for the world’s poorest within the constraints of contemporary finance. Seldom has modern economics put forth a blueprint with so audacious a goal in mind. In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs makes us believe, really believe that it is possible to overcome economic hardship in the developing world and achieve true prosperity. He shares his thoughts with eloquence and meticulous detail. With a foreword provided by Bono, we are immediately prepared for a script that is indeed larger than life, for a bold and daring plan, a mission seemingly impossible. It is suddenly hip to talk about poverty, permissible to question existing global economic policies and even forgivable to demand reform. Sachs allows us a glimpse into his own mind – the journey through his successes in Bolivia, Poland and Russia and now a passionate conviction to extrapolate these advances onto an African setting. However, his battles as an economic reformer historically have not been without defeat. The relative economic setbacks suffered in Bolivia and Poland are not the subject of this book. They are not in the spirit of The End of Poverty. Instead we are reassured by his familiarity with tenuous economic terrain. As a personal advisor to the United Nations’ Secretary General, Sachs affords us exposure to a classified frame of mind, off the beaten path. He allows us to see that it may be possible, by direct intervention, to select a Luo village like Sauri, ravaged by AIDS, poverty and tropical disease and offer hope for a brighter existence. Africa is by no means an easy topic, far less an easy economic arena to provide as a test ground. Sachs however, makes a brilliant argument even to the lay reader wading through some of the technical econo-jargon. The more one reads, the easier it becomes to believe that the cost of a better future for Africa is within affordable limits, certainly by western standards. The 120 billion dollars of aid that he demands would theoretically be used to establish better infrastructure, schools, roads, sanitation and disease control. The question forever begs, however, how easily will this translate into practical African terms? How successful has Africa been in the past at implementing globally contrived economic reforms? The End of Poverty does not answer these questions either. But one suspects that may never have been its mandate. Instead it proffers an alternative opinion about poverty with a pointed focus on eradication rather than mere elimination. The policies are complex and relatively controversial. Admittedly, any idea as radical as those in The End of Poverty can only be expressed in the esoteric parlance of revolution and never be slowed by the pedantic rules of evolution. How else could they ever achieve the triumph for Africa?