Jeffrey D. Sachs's Blog, page 3

How Can We Achieve the SDGs? Strategic Policy Directions

The state of the world is paradoxical. The good news is that the world income in 2018 was around $135 trillion according to the International Monetary Fund, measuring world output at “international prices.” That was an average of roughly $17,500 for each of the 7.7 billion men, women, and children on this planet. That sum [...]

Here’s how Venezuela can achieve a peaceful resolution to the crisis

(CNN) 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 report in The Wall Street Journal, which cited a senior administration official, the US [...]

We need diplomacy, not sanctions for peace in Syria

Many Democrats have been confused by President Trump’s announced withdrawal of troops from Syria, and some have called the withdrawal a mistake. Yet Trump’s announcement is not wrong, just incomplete. It is time to leave Syria, but also time to ramp up U.S. diplomacy, both directly with the region’s governments and through the United Nations. Unfortunately, this week, some [...]

Donald Trump’s cold war tactics will not work with China

Generals fight the last war, and Washington’s economic war on China is straight from America’s tactics against the Soviet Union and its skirmishes with Japan in the 1980s. Yet China is neither the Soviet Union nor Japan. The US’s aggressive trade actions towards Beijing, unless suspended in the near future, will damage the world economy [...]

Jeffrey Sachs on The Openist – Podcast of Democracy Cafe/Socrates Cafe

Jeffrey Sachs is a leading crusader to make ours a globally sustainable planet, and as a consequence, eradicate the extreme poverty that exists in a world of abundance. The world-renowned economist, senior United Nations advisor, prolific bestselling author, shares with me in our latest edition of The Openist his fervent belief that what the world [...]

Fully Filling the Global Fund

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Guido Schmidt-Traub, Vanessa Fajans-Turner In a world divided by conflict and greed, the Global Fund’s fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria is a matter of enlightened self-interest and a reminder of how much humanity can accomplish when we cooperate to save lives. For public and private donors, that means providing the financing [...]

The top geopolitical risks for 2019 Th

The Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer and professor Jeffrey Sachs discuss the Eurasia Group’s top risks for 2019.

Trump’s Syria Withdrawal is a Chance for Peace

NEW YORK – 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 certain reflexive judgments: that the US must maintain a [...]

For Climate Safety, Call in the Engineers

NEW YORK – This month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland succeeded in producing a rulebook to implement the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Every UN member state signed on. But that will not be enough to head off climate catastrophe. It’s time to call in the engineers. The diplomatic success at COP24 was [...]

The Dangers of Trump’s Unilateralist International Economic Policies

ABSTRACT: Donald Trump’s international economic policies aim to preserve America’s primacy in the face of China’s surging economic development. Trump’s policies are based on a zero-sum vision in which China’s economic gains are America’s losses. The resulting U.S. policies—in the areas of international trade, corporate taxation, technology competition, sanctions, and energy supplies—threaten to undermine the [...]