Comments on: Inpsired By Jeffrey Sachs

By: Dylan

Dylan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:56:18 +0000

Shock therapy destroyed millions of lives. We have entered an age where the disproven game theory of the mentally diseased John Nash is the foundation of society even though he himself dismissed it as nonsense after he was cured of his mental illness. The class system of the middle ages is being re-established by implementing unsound models of society, which in turn is changing society. Ironically economists never consider the effect of their pet theories. And for the record, psychologically an economist is a close match to a psychopath. [Ref BBC The Trap]

By: mel

mel — Fri, 19 May 2006 06:04:59 +0000

I just watched all of Commanding Heights – it is an excellent documentary, though of course it left me with lots of questions…

Among those brought to mind: in an entirely free market system, what’s the role of the sovereign state? I’ve never really seen this addressed. Is it a free market system if you have any of 1. tariffs, 2. industry subsidies, 3. tax incentives? I’m not entirely convinced we should pioneer a system we’re not willing to explore, or be so willing to instigate ‘shock therapy’ test cases we would never subject ourselves to. About the state’s role generally in an entirely free market economy – what do they do if roads/schools/etc. are all privatized? Who ensures human rights, and where human rights mandates apply and what the penalties are for violations?

By: Eddie

Eddie — Fri, 05 May 2006 06:27:56 +0000

Like, you, I hope he’s right, or at least moving toward rightness, but itâ€™s a good question: where can he demonstrate success?

You might want to read “End of Poverty” to get a better idea, but he’s had success in Bolivia, Poland, China and India. He had less success in Russia.

In 1985 the inflation rate of Bolivia was at 23,000% (cite). Sachs helped Bolivia reverse inflation and cancel its debt.

Since 1985, adult literacy rose from 74% to 87%, infant mortality dropped from 87/1000 to 56/1000. Bolivia is still extremely poor (the poorest country in South America), but conditions are improving. Also, Bolivia is completely landlocked, after it lost its coastline to Chile, so the issues run deeper than simply economics.

But this is the point that Sachs drills home: every country is different and you have to look at geography, natural resources, geopolitic issues etc, in order to really come up with something that works. See, the alternative is to remain frozen while you try and decide how to fix everything at once or ignore those factors and try an clone the existing models. That’s not going to work. We’ve seen this tried all over the world. The important thing is to take action with the tools you have presented to you at the time.

By: Baratunde

Baratunde — Thu, 04 May 2006 21:20:49 +0000

Oooh, Jeff Sachs.

I don’t actually know much about him but I listened to a great forum on The Future of Africa that took place at PopTech last year. You can get free mp3 feeds from here

http://www.itconversations.com/series/poptech2005.html#downloads

A young activist and entrepreneur from (I think) Tanzania asked:

“Why does Jeff Sachs get more access to my government than I do… and without any proven track record?”

I personally agree that there are many things that the West and outside world can and should do to eliminate poverty, especially in Africa.

At the same time, infrastructure and economic models must originate from WITHIN Africa if they are to have a long term chance of success.

I’m naturally skeptical of one man running around the continent claiming he has the magic elixir.

Like, you, I hope he’s right, or at least moving toward rightness, but it’s a good question: where can he demonstrate success?

anybody know?