The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

Jeffrey D. Sachs grew up in the Detroit, Michigan area. He was educated as an economist at Harvard University (for his BA, MA, and PhD), where he then taught for more than 20 years before moving to Columbia University to head the Earth Institute. As of 2020, he is the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where his holds the highest academic rank of university professor.

The End of Poverty was Sachs’s first book, and he has published prolifically since its publication. The End of Poverty and two other books—Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008) and The Price of Civilization (2011)—were best-sellers.

Sachs became involved with the United Nations as discussed in The End of Poverty and has remain heavily engaged with the international organization. As of 2020, he is director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and works as an advocate with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. From 2001 to 2018, Sachs served as special advisor to UN Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan (2001-07), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and Antonio Guterres (2017-18).

Sachs’s international development work began in countries like Bolivia and Poland. He helped centralized planning regimes transition to a market economy, devised strategies to end hyperinflation, and became known for bold recommendations that were practical and effective.

It is hard to overstate Sachs’s importance to the global economics field, particularly as it relates to sustainable development (i.e., pertaining to alleviation of poverty and protection of the environment). The New York Times has described Sachs as “probably the most important economist in the world.” (Passell, Peter. “Dr. Jefferey Sachs, Shock Therapist.” The New York Times Magazine, 27 Jun. 1993.) He was twice listed as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential leaders, and The Economist has listed him among the three most influential living economists in the world.