Summary Of The End Of Poverty Jeffrey Sachs

I am reading the novel “The End Of Poverty” by Jeffrey D. Sachs. In this book it explains and talks about poverty in different areas of the world, and about the economy and how it all connects together. The author talks about his visits to the different countries, he had even visited Poland and helped out the government because that country was heading towards hyperinflation just like the small village he had visited before, Nthandire, except not as bad.

The author, Jeffrey Sachs, arrived in a small village, Nthandire, which is in Malawi, Africa. He states on the first page of chapter one, "This is year has been a lot more difficult than usual.” he says this because the rains have been failing to fall and the crops are withering. This village cannot really prevent the

withering crop issue because the village itself is very unable to, they have no “able-bodied "men who are capable to gather and save up the little rain that has fallen during the past months. The author wondered what happened to all the workers, he had to ask the aid worker if the workers were out on the fields, he shook his “no”. The village was wrecked by the AIDS, which apparently has been happening for several years now in this part of Malawi. But this is not the only fatal illness occurring in Nthandire, malaria is also a very deadly disease. “More than 1 million African children, and perhaps as many as 3 million, succumb to malaria each year,” Sachs states on page 7. This is caused by the extreme poverty occurring in this village and most of Africa itself. The worst thing about this situation is that they have no clinic nearby, not even safe water to drink. Malawi is really cut of from international trade. 4 billion people are trapped in extreme poverty, which means they only live off of a $1 a day or less in some cases.

Sachs visited Bangladesh as well, Bangladesh is integrated into the international economy ladder but is at the bottom of it. There is a lot of sweatshop labor, but Bangladesh is also increasing in micro-financed business in which offers hope for better incomes which leads to better lives. Most of Bangladesh lives on $1 to $2 a day which is one dollar more than Malawi, which indeed does make a difference but still is extreme poverty.

India is not extreme poverty but it does not have the best income for the people who live there. India is a country that is increasingly populated with people on middle incomes which is $250 to $400 a month but this is not the case in every area in India, many rural areas are living on just $1 to $2 a day.

China is a rising affluence. The income per capita is $4,000 which is a lot when compared to Malawi. Sachs visited China and while on that visit he saw cell phone with cameras in the back, he did not even see that in the west yet. But just because they are more updated with their technology does not mean everyone can afford it, there are millions who live in poverty like India, living on one to two dollars a day.

Sachs had helped many countries get out of economic issues with his ideas and thoughts.

Some of them worked out just fine and most worked out in general, but some of the issues he had dealt with were harder than he thought and did not work out right away, sometimes it even took a year or two. Sachs was not exactly the one to have the final word, but the ones who did have that final word listened to the logical thoughts of Jeffrey Sachs and most times instantly agreed.

One cannot really say that a piece of a book is missing unless there is ripped page, because all that is written down is all that the author wants to explain, but if I were to say anything about the book negatively I would say that maybe Sachs should have explained more on certain points.

Did I like or dislike the book? I genuinely do not have an opinion on this book for whether it’s a good book or a bad one. Disliking a book is very much a bad habit of mine because I am certainly not open minded about books, I read a lot, it’s just certain books that catch my eye, I do care if it’s a certain genre or thickness. But all in all it was a decent book, I probably would have never picked it out if I was at a bookstore,

though.