hryanjones 's review for:

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs

3.0

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With convincing maps, graphs, and tables of real numbers, Jeffrey Sachs, although a bit of a know-it-all makes a compelling argument why many people today are suffering in a destitute-poverty trap, which need not be the case. Lots of interesting tidbits like the fallacy of saying corruption is the reason why African economies haven't taken off and why arguments concluding that cultural heritage has vast economic consequences don't hold weight. Here's a quote on that last: "Early in the twentieth century, sociological theories in the tradition of Max Weber tried to explain the lower incomes of Southern Europe and Ireland relative to Northern Europe on the basis of supposedly static values of Catholicism versus entrepreneurial values of Protestantism. After midcentury, the Catholic countries began to grow very rapidly especially after malaria was controlled" (316 [my underline]).