Celebrated economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. To do this, Sachs proposes nine specific steps, which he explains in great detail in The End of Poverty. Though his plan certainly requires the help of rich nations, the financial assistance Sachs calls for is surprisingly modest--more than is now provided, but within the bounds of what has been promised in the past. For the U.S., for instance, it would mean raising foreign aid from just 0.14 percent of GNP to 0.7 percent. Sachs does not view such help as a handout but rather an investment in global economic growth that will add to the security of all nations. In presenting his argument, he offers a comprehensive education on global economics, including why globalization should be embraced rather than fought, why international institutions such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank need to play a strong role in this effort, and the reasons why extreme poverty exists in the midst of great wealth. He also shatters some persistent myths about poor people and shows how developing nations can do more to help themselves.

Despite some crushing statistics, The End of Poverty is a hopeful book. Based on a tremendous amount of data and his own experiences working as an economic advisor to the UN and several individual nations, Sachs makes a strong moral, economic, and political case for why countries and individuals should battle poverty with the same commitment and focus normally reserved for waging war. This important book not only makes the end of poverty seem realistic, but in the best interest of everyone on the planet, rich and poor alike.

舉世聞名的本書作者自1980年代聲譽鶴起，其經濟策略不僅振興了當時的全球經濟，多年以來更帶來諸多正面效應，作者現為美國哥倫比亞大學﹝Columbia University﹞地球研究所﹝The Earth Institute﹞的院長和教授，並且擔任聯合國的經濟特別顧問，專司主持千憘年計畫(UN Millennium Project)， 紐約時報﹝New York Times﹞稱其為現今世界最重要的經濟學家。

本書為作者主持聯合國千憘年計畫(UN Millennium Project)的觀察研究成果，此計畫的主旨在於研究降低疾病、貧困、軍事衝突和環境破壞的可能性，文中以系統性的論述剖析此一計畫的觀點和理念。全書包括18個章節，根據作者走訪世界各國的第一手研究與觀察而成，透過詳述數個其曾執行的小規模計畫的經驗，佐以統計資料和理論分析，作者清楚地闡釋自己的經濟概念，總體來說，文中傳達出對全球化經濟將帶來世界和平和人類共榮的遠景乃抱持著樂觀的態度，認為只要擁有完善的基本建設和人力資源，市場經濟就能夠在全球化的過程中發揮正面效用，藉此作者針砭了當代財富分配不均的經濟現況，描述分析隱藏在全球化經濟榮景背後的「極端貧困﹝extreme poverty﹞」所帶來的全球性經濟危機，並且進一步提出可供借鏡的經驗和建議。