Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
by: Jeffrey D. Sachs
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From one of the world's greatest economic minds, author of The New York Times bestseller The End of Poverty, a clear and vivid map of the road to sustainable and equitable global prosperity and an augury of the global economic collapse that lies ahead if we don't follow it
The global economic system now faces a sustainability crisis, Jeffrey Sachs argues, that will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The changes will be deeper than a rebalancing of economics and politics among different parts of the world; the very idea of competing nation-states scrambling for power, resources, and markets will, in some crucial respects, become passĀ. The only question is how bad it will have to get before we face the unavoidable. We will have to learn on a global scale some of the hard lessons that successful societies have gradually and grudgingly learned within national borders: that there must be common ground between rich and poor, among competing ethnic groups, and between society and nature.
The central theme of Jeffrey Sachs's new book is that we need a new economic paradigm-global, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware, science based- because we are running up against the realities of a crowded planet. The alternative is a worldwide economic collapse of unprecedented severity. Prosperity will have to be sustained through more cooperative processes, relying as much on public policy as on market forces to spread technology, address the needs of the poor, and to husband threatened resources of water, air, energy, land, and biodiversity. The "soft issues" of the environment, public health, and population will become the hard issues of geopolitics. New forms of global politics will in important ways replace capital-city-dominated national diplomacy and intrigue. National governments, even the United States, will become much weaker actors as scientific networks and socially responsible investors and foundations become the more powerful actors.
If we do the right things, there is room for all on the planet. We can achieve the four key goals of a global society: prosperity for all, the end of extreme poverty, stabilization of the global population, and environmental sustainability. These are not utopian goals or pipe dreams, yet they are far from automatic. Indeed, we are not on a successful trajectory now to achieve these goals. Common Wealth points the way to the course correction we must embrace for the sake of our common future.
From one of the world's greatest economic minds, author of The New York Times bestseller The End of Poverty, a clear and vivid map of the road to sustainable and equitable global prosperity and an augury of the global economic collapse that lies ahead if we don't follow it
The global economic system now faces a sustainability crisis, Jeffrey Sachs argues, that will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The changes will be deeper than a rebalancing of economics and politics among different parts of the world; the very idea of competing nation-states scrambling for power, resources, and markets will, in some crucial respects, become passĀ. The only question is how bad it will have to get before we face the unavoidable. We will have to learn on a global scale some of the hard lessons that successful societies have gradually and grudgingly learned within national borders: that there must be common ground between rich and poor, among competing ethnic groups, and between society and nature.
The central theme of Jeffrey Sachs's new book is that we need a new economic paradigm-global, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware, science based- because we are running up against the realities of a crowded planet. The alternative is a worldwide economic collapse of unprecedented severity. Prosperity will have to be sustained through more cooperative processes, relying as much on public policy as on market forces to spread technology, address the needs of the poor, and to husband threatened resources of water, air, energy, land, and biodiversity. The "soft issues" of the environment, public health, and population will become the hard issues of geopolitics. New forms of global politics will in important ways replace capital-city-dominated national diplomacy and intrigue. National governments, even the United States, will become much weaker actors as scientific networks and socially responsible investors and foundations become the more powerful actors.
If we do the right things, there is room for all on the planet. We can achieve the four key goals of a global society: prosperity for all, the end of extreme poverty, stabilization of the global population, and environmental sustainability. These are not utopian goals or pipe dreams, yet they are far from automatic. Indeed, we are not on a successful trajectory now to achieve these goals. Common Wealth points the way to the course correction we must embrace for the sake of our common future.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Where it all went wrong and how to fix it
This wide ranging analysis of the world today and its future options should be a 'must read' at the highest level of all government agencies.
Any scathing attack on the deficiencies of the 2008 US regime are countered by offering workable opportunities to repair the damage and in particular to allow the United States to become a more believable power for good and to gain back some respect that the US once commanded with the rest of the world in the middle of the last century.
Rating: - Common Wealth
I found this book to be an excellent read. If our nation and world would use some of the ideas presented in the book, we would have a much better planet. I plan on doing what I can to better our world, small steps, one day at a time.
Rating: 
- Worst book I've read in years
This was a complete and total waste of my time.I actually think I may be dumber as a result of reading it.There are virtually no facts or studies cited in this book.He attempts to make historical references to provide basis to some of his opinions (that he presents more or less as if they are facts) but the causation is never clear. I think a book of this type needs to be written, but it obviously needs to be written by someone other than Jeffrey Sachs.He is just smart enough to be dangerous. ... Read More
Rating: - REVIEW THE BOOK COMMON WEALTH, J SACHS
IT IS A VERY INTERESTING BOOK ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT DEALS WITH AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RECENT ISSUE: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. IT IS NOT EASY TO FIND BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THAT.
Rating: - Common Wealth
An excellent book by a truly authoritative author, this book even proposes solutions to many of the world-wide problems.
- Where it all went wrong and how to fix it This wide ranging analysis of the world today and its future options should be a 'must read' at the highest level of all government agencies.
Any scathing attack on the deficiencies of the 2008 US regime are countered by offering workable opportunities to repair the damage and in particular to allow the United States to become a more believable power for good and to gain back some respect that the US once commanded with the rest of the world in the middle of the last century.
- Common WealthI found this book to be an excellent read. If our nation and world would use some of the ideas presented in the book, we would have a much better planet. I plan on doing what I can to better our world, small steps, one day at a time.
- Worst book I've read in yearsThis was a complete and total waste of my time.I actually think I may be dumber as a result of reading it.There are virtually no facts or studies cited in this book.He attempts to make historical references to provide basis to some of his opinions (that he presents more or less as if they are facts) but the causation is never clear. I think a book of this type needs to be written, but it obviously needs to be written by someone other than Jeffrey Sachs.He is just smart enough to be dangerous. ... Read More
- REVIEW THE BOOK COMMON WEALTH, J SACHSIT IS A VERY INTERESTING BOOK ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT DEALS WITH AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RECENT ISSUE: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. IT IS NOT EASY TO FIND BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THAT.
- Common WealthAn excellent book by a truly authoritative author, this book even proposes solutions to many of the world-wide problems.
