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1-Page Summary of The End Of Poverty

Overall Summary

In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey D. Sachs outlines a strategy to end extreme poverty by the year 2030. He draws on his experience in developing countries and calls on developed nations to make this goal a reality. This book is inspired by John Maynard Keynes’s essay Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren (1930), which outlined a plan to eliminate extreme poverty from industrialized countries within two generations.

Sachs wrote The End of Poverty to identify the route by which extreme poverty can be eradicated globally by 2025. His book does not make a broad prediction, but rather explains why extreme poverty persists and what countries and people need to do in order to begin climbing out of it.

The book is not formally divided into sections, but it has three parts. The first part introduces basic economic concepts and provides a brief history of the world’s poorest regions. It also describes Sachs’s career as an economist who helped several countries transition to market-based economies. In the second part, he focuses on development economics and poverty eradication in particular. He offers a detailed plan for ending extreme poverty by 2030 and addresses common counterarguments against his ideas. Finally, he argues that ending extreme poverty is just one more step toward Enlightenment ideals about improving the human condition

Introduction

Sachs opens his book by identifying what he wants to achieve and explaining why it will be important. He does this by referencing John Maynard Keynes, who was an influential economist in the past. Sachs also mentions that he is carrying on a tradition of thought that has been successful in the past.

Sachs explains that in order to end extreme poverty, we must focus on the one-sixth of humanity who are fighting for minimal survival. This is important because it’s connected to global terrorism and other problems.

Sachs further establishes his authority on this topic by discussing how he has traveled to various countries and been involved in various economic crises.

Sachs finally states his purpose: he wants to identify a pathway to end extreme poverty by the year 2030. He believes that doing so will make it more likely to succeed in 20 years.

Chapter 1: “A Global Family Portrait”

The chapter describes the four countries in ascending order of economic development (Malawi, Bangladesh, India and China). This is a metaphor for describing how these countries developed economically.

He first visits a small village in Malawi. It is an hour away from the capitol city of Lilongwe, where most of the working-age adults have died from AIDS. Most people are elderly women who struggle to raise their children amid malnourishment and disease. Next, he visits Blantyre Hospital in Malawi’s main city, where there are very few cases of AIDS because many can afford medication that has a 100% success rate against it (AIDS). However, across the hall lies hundreds more patients dying from AIDS; they’re stacked three to each cot with strangers around them as they die together.

The garment industry in Bangladesh is booming, but it’s a very dangerous place to work. Women and girls walk for hours each day to get there, where they labor 12 hours a day with almost no breaks or days off. Still, these women see their jobs as major opportunities because they’re working toward getting out of extreme poverty. In fact, the fertility rate has dropped precipitously over the last generation in Bangladesh (14). It’s also been noted that microfinance loans are on the rise in this country, which illustrates its economic growth and development (14).