Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, and is director of the Millennium Villages Project. A recent survey by The Economist Magazine ranked Professor Sachs as among the world’s three most influential living economists of the past decade. Sachs is the author, most recently, of “The Age of Sustainable Development," 2015 with Ban Ki-moon.
Articles by this author
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Views Thursday, May 16, 2019 America's Illusions of Growth National politics in the United States has become enslaved to macroeconomic indicators that have little bearing on true wellbeing. For many commentators, the snapshot growth rate of 3.2% for the first quarter of 2019, coupled with a decline in the unemployment rate to 3.6% in April, implies that... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, April 17, 2019 Oil and Gas Industry Has Way Too Much Control Over Congress In October 1992, the United States Senate ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the global treaty to stop human-induced global warming, which became enforceable two years later. Yet for the quarter century since then, the US Congress has failed to pass a single major... Read more |
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Views Monday, April 15, 2019 Our Zero Emission Future The solution to human-induced climate change is finally in clear view. Thanks to rapid advances in zero-carbon energy technologies, and in sustainable food systems, the world can realistically end greenhouse-gas emissions by mid-century at little or no incremental cost, and with decisive benefits... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, March 26, 2019 The Trump Contagion Mental health professionals and others have been trying to warn the public about the dangers of US President Donald Trump since his election . Trump’s extreme narcissism, sadism, lack of empathy, and admiration for despots are on daily display . Some may wish to see him as a self-absorbed clown,... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 04, 2019 The Medicare for All Bill Is a Winner Rep. Pramila Jayapal introduced a sweeping Medicare for All (MFA) bill on Wednesday ( H.R. 1384 ), and the national debate on healthcare is bound to intensify through the 2020 election. Voters rank healthcare costs as their second most important priority , just after the economy. The political fate... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, February 26, 2019 How to Avoid a War in Venezuela One month after Juan Guaidó, the speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said he was assuming the powers of the Venezuelan presidency, currently held by Nicolás Maduro, the country’s political crisis remains far from over. Tensions have escalated to the point that a full-blown civil war—a... Read more |
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Views Saturday, February 23, 2019 Green New Deal Is Feasible and Affordable There are three main ideas of the Green New Deal Resolu tion introduced by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey. The first is to decarbonize the US energy system -- that is, to end the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning coal, oil and natural gas, in order to stop... Read more |
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Views Monday, January 28, 2019 Here's How Venezuela Can Achieve a Peaceful Resolution to the Crisis Events in Venezuela may be heading toward a catastrophic conflict. Venezuelan society is deeply divided between President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters, backed by the military, versus an opposition led by self-declared president, Juan Guaido , leader of the National Assembly. According to a... Read more |
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Views Thursday, January 03, 2019 US Withdrawal From Syria a Chance for Peace President Donald Trump’s announced withdrawal of US forces from Syria has met with near-universal condemnation by Democrats and Republicans alike. That says less about Trump than it does about the US foreign policy establishment’s blinkered vision. The mainstream of both political parties exhibits... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, December 26, 2018 For Climate Safety, Call in the Engineers At the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland, diplomats delivered a "rulebook" to guide all countries in combating global warming. When world leaders convene at the UN next September to advance climate safety further, the world’s leading engineers should greet them... Read more |