Inpsired By Jeffrey Sachs

A few months ago my brother told me to watch a PBS documentary called “Commanding Heights“. I did. And I enjoyed it. The documentary begins at the dawn of the 20th century, when Europe first attempted globalization through colonization and the foundations of macroeconomics were being laid by John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek.

The documentary covered the rise of capitalism and globalization at the beginning of the century, then shake up after the first World War and rise of communism and fascism after the war. It then covered the “revival” of capitalism and globalization in the early 90s, after the fall of communism, through case studies of India, Bolivia, China and Poland. The documentary is presented in an exciting format where we see the tides of world change from one ideology to another.

Around the time when the documentary is discussing the failure of communism, we are introduced to Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs, an economist, shared his experience as an economic adviser for the Bolivian and Polish governments, where he helped draft plans that controlled inflation and ultimately saved lives. These stories were amazing to hear in the documentary, but when I encountered The End of Poverty by Sachs in a local book store, I had to get it.

I had an immediate connection with Sachs. Sachs provided me with an refreshing way of thinking that was both blindly idealistic and extremely pragmatic. This is been a balance I’ve been trying to strike in myself for years and I found a model in Sachs. From Wikipedia:

Since 2002, Sachs has been Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and a professor in Columbia’s Department of Economics, School of International and Public Afffairs and Department of Health Policy and Management; in 2003 he became Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development. He is also Director of the United Nations Millennium Project and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously, Sachs has been an advisor to the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme.

It was inspiring to see someone who’s ideology is to simply save lives. No complex ideas on how “things should be” or ways to build a Utopian society. Nope, it is simply save lives. Sachs specializes in “modernizing” governments by advocating for free markets, and generally focuses on encouraging the “world community” to cancel debts for struggling countries and encouraging countries to open up its borders to foreign investment.

I might share the same ideals as Sachs for what a modern governments and economy should look like, but when it about saving lives I think the solution which prevents hundreds of thousands of people from dying every day is the best solution. What I find inspiring is that Sachs has found his tool, capitalism, and he has fine tuned it to deal with different situations. The tool is not what he is advocating for, but instead he is advocating for the results.

Here here a few bookmarks I’ve saved that have more information on Sachs.