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  • Published: 27 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141919317
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

Common Wealth

Economics for a Crowded Planet



A passionate and original vision of how economics should be recast to sustain the world in the twenty-first century

This is a book about how we should address the great, and interconnected, global challenges of the twenty-first century. Our task, Sachs argues, is to achieve truly sustainable development, by which he means finding a global course which enables the world to benefit from the spread of prosperity while ensuring that we don't destroy the eco-systems which keep us alive and our place in nature which helps sustain our values. How do we move forward together, benefitting from our increasing technological mastery, avoiding the terrible dangers of climate change, mass famines, violent conflicts, population explosions in some parts of the world and collapses in others, and world-wide pandemic diseases?

In answering these questions, Sachs shows that there are different ways of managing the world's technology, resources and politics from those currently being followed, and that it should be possible to adopt policies which reflect long-term and co-operative thinking instead of, as currently, disregard for others and ever-increasing barriers to solving the problems which we collectively face. It is a book which appeals equally to both head and heart, and one which no globally thinking person can ignore.

  • Published: 27 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141919317
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

About the author

Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist and the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became renowned his work throughout the developing world and on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation and globalization. He has twice been named one of Time magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. He has authored numerous books, including The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, both New York Times bestsellers.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and the global best-selling author of The End of Poverty. He is also the BBC's Reith Lecturer for 2007 and is internationally renowned for his work as an economic advisor to governments around the world.

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