The best value solutions to the world’s biggest problems
More than 55 international economists, including 5 Nobel Laureates, have been working for two years to assess more than 50 solutions, provide an in-depth assessment of the costs and benefits of those solutions, and prioritize them to address some of the biggest challenges faced by the world. The project, known as the Copenhagen Consensus, has recently released its report. What are the problems to be addressed?
In alphabetical order:
- Air pollution
- Conflicts
- Disease
- Education
- Global warming
- Malnutrition and hunger
- Sanitation and water
- Subsidies and trade barriers
- Terrorism
- Women and development
To make the project plausible, the panel had a notional budget of US$75 billion to spend over 4 years. They selected 30 initiatives, ranked in order of effectiveness for the money spent. The summary of the recommended solutions (available online as a .pdf document download) makes for fascinating reading. There will be some very surprised faces in the major developed countries (or maybe not). The top ranked recommendation is supplying micro-nutrients to children in poor countries. This achieves a dramatic payback for a relatively small amount. Sounds very commendable. However, the second highest ranked recommendation is to implement the Doha trade liberalisation agenda - ie. free trade including agriculture will do more good in the world than every other initiative bar one.
The recommended projects and the proposed budget are all doable. We can only hope that they will be given serious consideration by those who decide such things.
Trackback uri
June 11th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Copenhagen again heh? After the most famous philosophical interpretation of all time started in Copenhagen in the last century, the Copenhagen Interpretation, now another one emerges as Copenhagen Consensus.
Anyway, I agree that if most countries agree to the Doha trade liberalization , it will do more good to the world economy. But the Greenies (Sue Kedgley) as always will oppose that.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:25 am
I’m shocked and stunned. $75 Billion (about 75% of the GDP of NZ) is a LOT of moolah for a talk fest.
Mind you, people usualy take advice that cost them a fortune - I wonder how it was funded!
June 12th, 2008 at 10:25 am
The budget was a theoretical one for implementing solutions, a thinking tool. Unfortunately no such budget exists.