Why should a book about economics appear in a journal of child health, you may ask. In reality, the information laid out in this book could do more for the paediatric population than all the treatments we possess. That is why this book surged to the top of my long reading list.
Jeffrey Sachs, amongst other roles, is a professor of economics at Columbia University, New York, USA. In this book, he tries to present a plan whereby extreme poverty can be eradicated from the world by 2025. The book is split into two main sections: the first is a brief history of the countries he has been associated with and the second is an illustrated plan of how his ideas can be implemented. Sachs makes bold suggestions as to what we can achieve. He shows how extreme poverty can be ended by sticking to the United Nations aid donation target of 0.7% of the gross national product.
Sachs presents his arguments in a simple manner and tries to illustrate them wherever possible. He often draws on his own experiences, which can make the book an autobiography of his achievements at times. He also tries to put his arguments in a historical context, with several references to the seminal work of Adam Smith's The wealth of nations.
One of the central themes in the book and particularly interesting to a medical professional is the idea of “clinical economics”. The theory is that an economist should approach a problem in the same way as a doctor does, by first coming up with a differential diagnosis. In this, he makes several references to his wife Sonia, a practising paediatrician. He also devotes a great deal of the book to health‐related issues and tries to come up with public health approaches to lessen the burden of the major diseases in the world.
The book idolises the market economy as the answer to the world's problems. Although he does give a brief reference to its failings, Sachs makes no qualms about his belief that development will occur only through “capitalist” market growth. He does, however, criticise the roles of the US government, and organisations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, in the way that trade has been run.
One of the main problems I faced in reading this book was a lack of knowledge of economics. The arguments presented seem to make sense, and the optimist in me would like to believe them, but without a background in economics I find them difficult to critically appraise.
In summary, this is an interesting, well‐researched and relatively accessible book on a very important topic. Would I recommend this book? … Certainly.
