Common Wealth

The global economic system now faces a sustainability crisis, Jeffrey Sachs argues, one that will overturn many of our basic assumptions. The very idea of competing nation states scrambling for power, resources and markets will soon be outdated. The world has become much too crowded and dangerous for more 'Great Games' in the Middle East or anywhere else. The defining challenge of the twenty-first century is now to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate: we will flourish - or perish - together. We will have to learn that there must be common ground between rich and poor, among competing ethnic groups, and between society and nature.
The central theme of Jeffrey Sachs's new book is that we need a new economic paradigm: global, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware, science-based. The alternative is a worldwide economic collapse of unprecedented severity. Prosperity will have to be sustained through more cooperative processes, relying as much on public policy as market forces to spread technology, address the needs of the poor, and to husband threatened resources of water, air, energy, land, and biodiversity. New forms of politics - built on scientific networks, corporate social responsibility and globally agreed goals - will replace capital-city-dominated national diplomacy and intrigue. National governments will become much weaker actors.
If we do the right things, there is room for all on the planet. We can achieve four key goals: prosperity for all, the end of extreme poverty, stabilization of the global population and environmental sustainability. Common Wealth points to the course we must take to achieve them, for the sake of our common future.