Common Wealth

The global economic system now faces a sustainability crisis, Jeffrey Sachs argues, one that will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life.The 21st century saw the end of European dominance of global politics and economics.The 21st century will see the end of United States dominance as well. The bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad reflects not merely poor U.S. planning but the limits of U.S. economic and political power. 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 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate. We will flourish -- or perish -- together.

The central theme of Jeffrey Sachs's new book is that we need -- and will arrive at, more or less painfully -- a new economic paradigm -- global, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware, science based -- because we are running up against the realities of a crowded planet. The alternative is a world-wide 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. The "soft issues" of the environment, public health, and population will become the hard issues of geopolitics. National governments, even the U.S., will become much weaker actors. Scientific networks and socially responsible investors and foundations will become the more powerful actors.

If we do the right things, there is room for all on the planet. We can achieve the key four goals of a global society: prosperity for all, the end of extreme poverty, stabilization of the global population, and environmental sustainability. COMMON WEALTH points the way to the course correction we must embrace for the sake of our common future.