Jeffrey Sachs: The Strange Case of Dr. Shock and Mr. Aid (Counterblasts)

An investigation of Sachs’s schizophrenic career, and the worldwide havoc he has caused. Jeffrey Sachs is a man with many faces. A celebrated economist and special advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he is also no stranger to the world of celebrity, accompanying Bono, Madonna and Angelina Jolie on high-profile trips to Africa. Once notorious as the progenitor of a brutal form of free market engineering called ‘shock therapy’, Sachs now positions himself as a voice of progressivism, condemning the ‘1 per cent’ and promoting his solution to extreme poverty through the Millennium Villages Project. Appearances can be deceiving. __Jeffrey Sachs: The Strange Case of Dr Shock and Mr Aid__ is the story of an evangelical development expert who poses as saviour of the Third World while opening vulnerable nations to economic exploitation. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation, Jeffrey Sachs exposes Mr Aid as no more than a new, more human face of Dr Shock. An investigation of Sachs's schizophrenic career, and the worldwide havoc he has caused. Jeffrey Sachs is a man with many faces. A special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and described by the New York Times as "probably the most important economist in the world," Sachs is also a "celebrity economist", regularly canoodling with the stars, who has accompanied Bono, Madonna and Angelina Jolie on high-profile trips to Africa. But this dual identity conceals a more sinister division. Sachs now positions himself as a voice of progressivism, providing moral condemnation of the 1 percent, and promoting his solution to extreme poverty in the Millennium Villages Project. Yet in the 1980s and 1990s he was notorious as the pioneer of a brutal form of free market engineering called "shock therapy," which had catastrophic social consequences in Bolivia and Poland, and its most severe impact in Russia. Author Japhy Wilson tells the story of how Sachs rose to stardom and fell from grace in Russia, before rebranding himself as an evangelical development expert and savior of the Third World, while actually working to reinforce the neoliberal project that he now claims to oppose. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation of the Millennium Villages Project, Jeffrey Sachs exposes its subject's Jekyll/Hyde complex, showing Mr. Aid to be no more than the new, more human face of Dr. Shock himself. From the Trade Paperback edition "Described by the New York Times as "probably the most important economist in the world," Jeffrey Sachs is also one of the most prominent public intellectuals in the Western world, shaping mainstream economic theory, advising governments on development policy, and appearing as a talking head in major media outlets. Though he achieved notoriety in the 80s and 90s by pioneering a brutal form of free market engineering he called "shock therapy," Sachs has since positioned himself as a voice of the center-left, providing moral condemnation of Third World debt and structural adjustment, and intervening on African development, especially through his Millenium Villages Project in Sub-Saharan Africa. But appearances can be superficial. Jeffrey Sachs: The Strange Case of Dr. Shock & Mr. Aid is an account of how Sachs successfully rebranded himself as an evangelical development expert and savior of the Third World, while in fact reinforcing the neoliberal project itself. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation of the Millenium Villages Project, Jeffrey Sachs exposes its namesake's Jekyll/Hyde complex, showing Sachs to be no more than a new, more human face of the neoliberal project itself"-- Provided by publisher An investigation of Sachss schizophrenic career, and the worldwide havoc he has caused. Jeffrey Sachs is a man with many faces. A celebrated economist and special advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he is also no stranger to the world of celebrity, accompanying Bono, Madonna and Angelina Jolie on high-profile trips to Africa. Once notorious as the progenitor of a brutal form of free market engineering called shock therapy, Sachs now positions himself as a voice of progressivism, condemning the 1 per cent and promoting his solution to extreme poverty through the Millennium Villages Project. Appearances can be deceiving. Jeffrey Sachs: The Strange Case of Dr Shock and Mr Aid is the story of an evangelical development expert who poses as saviour of the Third World while opening vulnerable nations to economic exploitation. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation, Jeffrey Sachs exposes Mr Aid as no more than a new, more human face of Dr Shock. From the Trade Paperback edition. Content: Introduction: The Sachs Conundrum -- 1 The Rise of Dr Shock -- 2 Russia -- 3 The Magnificent Mr Aid -- 4 Development Dreamland -- 5 The Village That Sachs Built -- 6 The World Falls Apart -- Conclusion: The Neoliberal Neurosis.