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Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

Director at Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, USA

Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known as one of the world's leading experts on sustainable development, economic development, and the fight against poverty.

Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs held the position of Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, and an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18). Sachs is the Chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission (July 2020).

Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). His most recent book is The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020).

Sachs was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and has received 38 honorary degrees. The New York Times called Sachs “probably the most important economist in the world,” and Time magazine called Sachs “the world’s best-known economist.” A survey by The Economist ranked Sachs as among the three most influential living economists.

Research Interests:

Prof. Sachs has conducted ground-breaking research and published extensively on topics spanning the challenges of globalization and sustainable development, including the relationship of international trade and economic growth; management of debt crises and methods of debt relief; the resource curse and extractive industries; global public health and the provision of public health in low-income settings; strategies for the eradication of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; strategies to combat COVID-19; the history, geography, and practice of economic development; international financial markets and macroeconomic policy; climate change; education for sustainable development; and the eradication of extreme poverty through integrated investments in skills, local infrastructure, and business development. 

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics, Harvard University, USA
  • Masters in Economics, Harvard University, USA
  • Bachelors in Arts, Harvard University, USA
Honours:
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economic Sciences, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1990.
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Social Sciences, Lingnan College, Hong Kong, 1998
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economics, University of Economics Varna, Bulgaria, May 3, 2000
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor, Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, May 13, 2000
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor, St. John’s University, n.d.
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Southern New Hampshire University, May 13, 2005
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, McGill University, May 27, 2005
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Simon Fraser University, October 7, 2005
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Southern Methodist University, May 20, 2006
  • Honorary Degree, Master of Philosophy in Human Ecology, College of the Atlantic, June 3, 2006
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Trinity College Dublin, July 6, 2006
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Ohio Wesleyan University, October 5, 2006
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor, Cracow University of Economics, May 2007 
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Ursinus College, May 2007
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Whitman College, May 2007
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, State University of New York (Purchase), May 16, 2008
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Pace University, May 19, 2008
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Connecticut College, Spring 2010
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Grinnell College, August 4, 2010
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Carleton University, November 13, 2010
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Bryant University, May 19, 2012
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, University of Michigan, April 28, 2013
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Drexel University, June 13, 2014
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, University of Delaware, May 30, 2015
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor,  Portland State University, June 12, 2016
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, n.d.
  • Honorary Degree, University of Athens, September 7, 2017
  • Honorary Degree, University of Brescia, Italy, February 12, 2018 
  • Honorary Degree, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania, March 9, 2018
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, October 16, 2018
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, October 24, 2018
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economics and Public Policy, ADA University, Baku, Azerbaijan, March 2019
  • Honorary Degree, Honorary Doctorate of Ivane Javakhishvili, Tbilisi State University of Georgia, March 2019
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economics, University of Lodz, Poland, May 24, 2019 
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Peace, University of Cambodia, January 10, 2020
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Sustainability, Amrita University, Kerala, India, 2021. 
  • Honorary Degree, Doctor of Economics, Macau University of Science and Technology, March 27, 2022.  
  • Honorary Degree, University of Siena, Italy, June 18, 2022.
SELECTED AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS:
  • Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, by decree of the President of the Republic, France, June 14, 2021.
  • Alexander Rüstow Award for the Advancement of a Humane Economy, the Alliance for the Social Market Economy, April 8, 2021.
  • Global Visionary Award, Appalachian State University, March 2021.
  • Nizami Ganjavi International Award 2020, Nizami Ganjavi International Center, December 8, 2020. 
  • Nizami Ganjavi International Award, NGIC, Global Baku Forum, March 2020. 
  • Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2020, Delhi, India, January 2020. 
  • Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, Third Class, Eesti Pank, Estonia, January 2019.
  • AIB Eminent Scholar Award, Michigan State University, June 27, 2018
  • Boris Mints Institute Prize, Tel Aviv University, May 18, 2017
  • World Sustainability Award (2017), Cape Town, January 27, 2017 
  • Quartz Podcast Award for 2015 best business/economics podcast, 2015.
  • Blue Planet Prize, Asahi Glass Foundation, 2015.
  • M.S. Swaminathan Award, Asia Initiatives, October 14, 2013.
  • The 2013 Frank E. Taplin, Jr. Public Intellectual Award, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, June 12, 2013. 
  • Dag Hammarskjold Inspiration Award, Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists, November 13, 2012.
  • Named one of top 3 most influential economists of the past decade, The Economist, February 10, 2011.
  • Pro Bono Humanum Award, Prix Galien, September 30, 2009. 
  • The James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service, The American Whig-Cliosophic Society, March 5, 2009. 
  • United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Citizen of Year, December 4, 2008.
  • The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution International Advocate for Peace Award, 2007.
  • Jefferson Award for Public Service, 2007.
  • Honorary Dean, Western China Poverty Reduction Program, Sichuan University, August 22, 2006.
  • The Centennial Medal, The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, June 2007.
  • Padma Bhushan Award, awarded by the President of India, January 2007. 
  • American Association of Geographers, Honorary Geographer, 2007.
  • First holder of the Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Chair in Poverty Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • The Memorial Sloane-Kettering Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Research, May 16, 2006.
  • University of California Berkeley School of Public Health International Public Health Hero Award, 2006
  • Honorary Fellow, OXONIA, The Oxford Institute of Economic Policy, Oxford, UK.
  • Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice, 2005.
  • Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, Time Magazine, April 2005.
  • Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, Time Magazine, April 2004. 
  • Elected to the Institute of Medicine, October 2003. 
  • The Distinguished Public Service Award of the Secretary of State's Open Forum, June 28, 2002.
  • Bernhard Harms Prize, Kiel Institute, June 24, 2000.
  • Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, 1999.
  • Honorary Professorship, Universidad del Pacífico, Peru, 1997
  • Frank E. Seidman Award in Political Economy, 1991.
  • Fellow, World Econometric Society.
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA.
  • Irving Fischer Award for Outstanding Dissertation, Omicron Delta Epsilon Society, 1982.
  • Wells Prize for Economics Dissertation, Harvard University, 1981.
  • Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows.
  • Recipient of the John Williams Prize for best overall record of a graduating economics major at Harvard College, 1976.
  • Elected to Phi Beta Kappa during junior year at Harvard.
  • John Harvard Scholarship for Highest Academic Achievement (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976).
  • Whitaker Prize, 1976.
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2020). The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Columbia University Press ISBN 9780231193740
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2018). A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism. Columbia University Press ISBN 9780231188487
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2017). Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, & Sustainable. Columbia University Press ISBN 978-0-231-18404-5
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (March 3, 2015). The Age of Sustainable Development. Columbia University Press ISBN 0231173156
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (June 4, 2013). To Move the World: JFK's Quest for Peace. Random House, ISBN 978-0812994926
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (October 4, 2011). The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity Random House ISBN 978-1-4000-6841-8
  • Sachs, Jeffrey D. (June 2010). "Millennium Development Goals at 10". Scientific American. 302 (6): 17. Bibcode:2010SciAm.302f..30S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0610-30. PMID 20521476.
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2008). Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet Penguin Press HC ISBN 978-1-59420-127-1
  • Humphreys, Macartan, Sachs, Jeffrey, and Stiglitz, Joseph (eds.) (May 22, 2007). "Escaping the Resource Curse" Columbia University Press ISBN 978-0-231-14196-3
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2005). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Penguin Press HC ISBN 1-59420-045-9
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2002). A New Global Effort to Control Malaria (Science), Vol. 298, October 4, 2002
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2002). Resolving the Debt Crisis of Low-Income Countries (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity), 2002:1
  • Sachs, Jeffrey (2001). The Strategic Significance of Global Inequality (The Washington Quarterly), Vol. 24, No. 3, Summer 2001