Jeffrey Sachs is one of the most respected growth economists in the world, a large part of that because so much of his work has been outside the Ivory Tower helping real people. In particular, he helped advise governments in Latin American, Eastern European, and the former Soviet Union transition from Communist to market economies, and most recently has focused on alleviating poverty in Africa.
Sachs now argues that the economics profession has lost its moral groundings and forgotten that its primary function is to help people.
My profession is pretty useless on this, just horrendously misguided in what it spends its time on. Because it spends its time on completely unimportant things and neglects the very important things… it cannot be the most important issue in the world whether the US grows at another 3% or 3.5% or 2.9% a year, when over the last 65 years there’s been no discernible rise in wellbeing and lots of discernible worsening of social wellbeing.
Sachs is also known for criticizing what he considers an overrated belief in institutions and oversimplifications in the profession.
This “institution matters” idea is one of those that I’ve found taken to extremes by causing a kind of geographic blindness, if I could say it. Geography obviously matters a lot. Resource base matters a lot. Institutions matter a lot. The world’s complex. We’re dealing with complex systems.
What are your thoughts?
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Rob Viglione is a PhD Candidate in Finance @UofSC with research interests in cryptofinance, asset pricing, and innovation. He is a former physicist, mercenary mathematician, and military officer with experience in satellite radar, space launch vehicles, and combat support intelligence. Currently a Principal at Key Force Consulting, LLC, a start-up consulting group in North Carolina, and Head of U.S. & Canada Ambassadors @BlockPay, Rob holds an MBA in Finance & Marketing and the PMP certification. He is a passionate libertarian who advocates peace, freedom, and respect for individual life.
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