Jeffrey D. Sachs
Recent articles by Jeffrey D. Sachs
Money makes the world go round and development succeed
The key to economic development and ending poverty is investment. Nations achieve prosperity by investing in four priorities. Most important is investing in people, through quality education and health care. The next is infrastructure, such as electricity, safe water, digital networks, and public transport. The third is natural capital, protecting nature. The fourth is business investment. The key is finance: mobilising the funds to invest at the scale and speed required.
Chinas Historic push for multipolar world to end U.S. domination
This is a historic watershed that the world is living through right now. What China is after is true multilateralism. What's very important to understand is that most of the world also does not want the U.S. as the global preeminent power. Most of the world wants a truly multipolar world, and is, therefore, not lined up behind the United States sanctions on Russia, says Jeffrey Sachs in an interview with Democracy now.
The need for a new US Foreign Policy
US foreign policy is based on an inherent contradiction and fatal flaw. The aim of US foreign policy is a US-dominated world, in which the US writes the global trade and financial rules, controls advanced technologies, maintains militarily supremacy, and dominates all potential competitors. Unless US foreign policy is changed to recognise the need for a multipolar world, it will lead to more wars, and possibly World War III.
The global banking crisis and world economy
The banking crisis that hit Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week has spread. We recall with a shudder two recent financial contagions: the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, which led to a deep Asian recession, and the 2008 Great Recession, which led to a global downturn. The new banking crisis hits a world economy already disrupted by pandemic, war, sanctions, geopolitical tensions, and climate shocks.
The geopolitics of peace in a post-Western world
We are in the midst of an extraordinarily dangerous and destructive hot war in Ukraine, and there is now daily talk about the prospects of a US-China war in Asia, perhaps over Taiwan. We cannot afford a continuation of the current war, and we cannot afford a war between the US and China. That would be the end of civilisation.
Jeffrey Sachs' testimony at UN security council on the Nord Stream Pipeline destruction
Testimony ofProfessor Jeffrey D. Sachs University Professor at Columbia University UN Security Council Session on the Nord Stream Pipeline Destruction
What Ukraine needs to learn from Afghanistan about proxy wars
The greatest enemy of economic development is war. If the world slips further into global conflict, our economic hopes and our very survival could go up in flames. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to a mere 90 seconds to midnight.
The new geopolitics
There is universal assent that we are in a period of geopolitical tension and flux. In a rough chronology, 1815-1914 was the era of British hegemony, the not-so-peaceful Pax Britannica.
The new world economy
Belm, Brazil I inaugurate this new series of columns in a New Year and a new beginning for Brazil with the inauguration of President Lula da Silva, His well-wishers poured out across the country in a revival of hope for Brazil after four years of disastrous rule under his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had fled Brazil for Florida on the eve of Lulas inauguration. Bolsonaro left behind a mob that rampaged government office buildings before being arrested in large numbers by the police.
Where are China-U.S. relations going? Must watch interview
There is a battle in the US between so called hardliners, so called neocons or neoconservatives, and those who want cooperative relations with China.
Best of 2022: The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinskifamously described Ukraine as a geopolitical pivot of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. Its urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits.
A mediator's guide to peace in Ukraine
The Ukraine War is an extremely dangerous war between nuclear superpowers in a world desperately in need of peace and cooperation.
Biden's foreign policy is sinking the Congressional Dems - and Ukraine
The proxy war between the U.S. and Russia is devastating Ukraine, ironically in the name of saving Ukraine.
The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinskifamously described Ukraine as a geopolitical pivot of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. Its urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits.
The wealthy pollutors inflict pain and death on the poor of Pakistan
Even if we measure cumulative emissions just from the1992-2020 period, the US share is 19.6%, the high-income groups share is 46.9%, and Pakistans share is 0.4%.
On Ukraine and Taiwan we are not using diplomacy; we are using weaponry
We are taking exactly the same tactics in East Asia that led to the war in Ukraine. Were organisingalliances, building up weaponry, trash-talking China, having Speaker Pelosi fly to Taiwan, when the Chinese government said, Please, lower the temperature, lower the tensions. We say, No, we do what we want, and now send more arms. This is a recipe for yet another war. And to my mind, its terrifying. A new database that Tufts is maintaining has just shown that there have been more than 100 military interventions by the United States since 1991. Its really unbelievable.
The west's false narrative about Russia and China
The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy.
Jeffrey Sachs and Neil Harrison: Did US biotechnology help to create COVID-19?
NEW YORK When US President Joe Biden asked the United States Intelligence Community to determine the origin of COVID-19, its conclusion was remarkably understated but nonetheless shocking.
Jeffrey Sachs speaks: The perilous situation after COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the end of US leadership
Jeffrey Sachs, economist and UN adviser for the Sustainable Development Goals, discusses the situation in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the dangerous US mindset.
Ukraine is the latest neocon disaster
The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russias invasion of Ukraine. The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the US, and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these...
Jeffrey Sachs: Reaching a just and lasting peace in Ukraine
On June 6-7, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network convened a study group of experts in international affairs, military and security affairs, and international relations among the US, European Union, Ukraine, and Russia. Their statement follows. Kindly note that the statement is solely that of the individual participants of the study group, and not that of any other organisation, including the Holy See, the United Nations, or any national government.
From limits to growth to regeneration 2030
Fifty years ago, Italian business leaders in the Club of Rome gave a jolt to the world in their path-breaking report Limits to Growth. That thought leadership continues today as Italian business leaders launch Regeneration 2030, a powerful call for more holistic, ethical, and sustainable business practices to help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The 50-year journey from Limits of Growth to Regeneration 2030 shows how far we have come in understanding the critical challenges facing humanity, but also how far we still have to go to meet those challenges.
Ending the war of attrition in Ukraine
Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine has degenerated into a savage war of attrition that each side believes it will win, but which in reality both sides will lose. Ukraine should intensify the search for a negotiated peace of the kind that was on the table in March, but which was abandoned following the Russian atrocities in Bucha.
A negotiated peace is the only way to end Russia's war on Ukraine
There is only one answer to the war in Ukraine: a peace deal.
Time to talk peace terms with Russia
On March 7, Russia stated three aimsfor its invasion of Ukraine: official Ukrainian neutrality, recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, and recognition of the independence of pro-Russian separatist regions in Luhansk and Donetsk.
How to protect Ukraine, reassure Russia and keep the peace
All antagonists should recognise mutual security interests. That implies a settlement in which Ukraine secures its sovereignty through neutrality.
How to avoid security crises in Ukraine and Taiwan
To peacefully resolve the brewing crises over Ukraine and Taiwan the major powers will need to consider the strategic perspectives of the other side.
Overhaul the global financial system for the sake of the planet
The current two-tiered global financial system only allows rich countries to borrow on decent market terms so they can tackle problems like climate change.
The climate bottom line: rich nations must step up
Financing lies at the heart of the rupture between wealthy and poor nations on climate: a levy-based framework to provide funding is now crucial.
'I see no financial obstacles to getting to net zero by 2050'
With COP26 looming, the expert in sustainable development explains how we can have both decarbonisation and robust growth.
Anti-China hysteria lies at heart of action against IMFs Georgieva
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva's fall would prove the fund has mere trappings of multilateralism leaving others to go their own way. ..Many in the US Congress want Georgieva out because she is not a sworn enemy of Beijing.
The climate crisis challenge belongs to all of us
Decisions taken by the US government and the rest of the world during the remainder of 2021 will be among the most important of our generation.
Jeffrey Sachs speech on the state of the world's "food system" that is rigged against the poor.
We have a world food system but we need a different system, one based on human rights and national sovereignty. The US won't allow that. Consider the United Fruit Company in Honduras that was backed by the US government and the military and exploited the local population.The US doesn't even care about it's own poor. And don't think that the US is going to help solve the problem through the private sector. We turned world food production over to the private sector 100 years ago in which the rights of poor people have been denied.
The idiocracy of America. It is perilously close to becoming a failed state
The hilarious 2006 film Idiocracy offers a vivid depiction of American politics. The movie is classified as a sci-fi comedy, but it is more like a searing documentary. It almost perfectly describes America's crisis of survival today. The American people, and the people of the world, deserve better than an American idiocracy.
Finding the origins of COVID-19 and preventing future pandemics
An international and independent investigation to examine the alternative hypotheses is urgently needed, and the US and Chinese governments should cooperate fully and transparently with such an inquiry. In the meantime, scientists, politicians, and pundits should acknowledge the uncertainties that currently prevail.
We don't need the G7
The groups recent summit in Cornwall should be its last. Political leaders need to stop devoting their energy to an exercise that is unrepresentative of todays global economy and results in a near-complete disconnect between stated aims and the means adopted to achieve them.
Share the intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines
Intellectual Property must serve the global good, rather than humanity serving the interests of a few private companies. And in the case of COVID-19, the global good is not in doubt: rapid worldwide immunization, in order to save lives, prevent the emergence of new variants, and end the pandemic.
Trumps presidency embodied the raw politics of US white supremacy
Throughout Americas history, the bigotry that fueled Donald Trumps rise to power has never been far from the surface. Trumps departure is an opportunity for a new beginning, not only in the deeply-wounded United States, but in multiethnic societies everywhere.
Europe and China's year-end breakthrough
Americas real intention in opposing China has nothing to do with human rights. Particularly under Trumps lawless administration, US policies have been motivated by a hunger for dominance, plain and simple.
Mission Sustainable Development (Project Syndicate Dec 1, 2020)
Nearly 60 years ago, President John F. Kennedy put the United States on a mission to the future by proclaiming that it would land a man on the moon within a decade. Our generations moonshot mission is sustainable development on Earth.
Americas Unholy Crusade Against China (Project Syndicate August 5, 2020)
Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an anti-China speech that was extremist, simplistic, and dangerous. If biblical literalists like Pompeo remain in power past November, they could well bring the world to the brink of a war that they expect and perhaps even seek.