Jeffrey Sachs draws on his remarkable 25 years' experience to offer a thrilling and inspiring vision of the keys to economic success in the world today. Marrying vivid storytelling with acute analysis, he sets the stage by drawing a conceptual map of the world economy and explains why, over the past 200 years, wealth and poverty have diverged and evolved across the planet, and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the trap of poverty. Sachs tells the remarkable stories of his own work in Bolivia, Poland, Russia, India, China and Africa to bring readers with him to an understanding of the different problems countries face. In the end, readers will be left not with an understanding of how daunting the world's problems are, but how solvable they are and why making the effort is both our moral duty and in our own interests.

哥伦比亚大学经济学教授，“休克疗法”之父，全球发展问题专家杰弗里·萨克斯。连续两年被《时代》杂志列为“世界百名最有影响的人物”，被《纽约时报》称为“世界上最重要的经济学家”。
萨克斯教授为我们描绘了一幅在2025年消灭极端贫困的宏伟蓝图。他20年来致力于在全球各国促进经济发展与提高人类福利的事业，他所提供的分析和建议是长期实践与思考的结晶。——乔治·索罗斯
萨克斯是个异数，既以理论研究闻名，也因成功帮助穷国致富的社会工作而著称。在这本期待已久的精彩作品中，他对当代世界所面临的严峻问题提出了自己的答案。——贾雷德·戴蒙德，《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》作者
我们从作者和他的书中可以读到的是：才华横溢、热力四射、心存乐观、时不我待。——《经济学人》
近250年来，世界人口和人均收入都以前所未有的高速度增长，但直到今天，仍有六分之一的世界人口被困于贫困陷阱之中，每年有800万人因极端贫困而死。
萨克斯教授曾直接参与联合国千年计划等重大社会改革项目，对当前世界的贫困问题有深入的了解。他以自己的亲身体验为线索，指点玻利维亚、波兰、俄罗斯、中国、印度等国家，向我们逐一剖析了导致贫穷的不同成因。不像学院派经济学家只顾沉浸于数字与图表，在萨克斯看来，地理因素、财政陷阱、政府失灵、文化障碍、地缘政治和人口问题才是真正的病根所在。
望闻问切之后，萨克斯更对症下药，指出结束贫困的关键在于让穷人走上发展的阶梯，这需要基础设施、公共建设、人力资本等方面的投资，需要各发达国家及国际机构的支持与援助，令世界走上更为开明的全球化道路。
贫穷并非与生而来，私人市场力量与公共政策的相互补充，加上更为和谐的全球治理体系，人类完全有能力在2025年消灭极端贫困，将技术进步所带来的经济繁荣惠及地球上的每一个人。

A surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity—and our flawed responses to it—shapes our lives, our society, and our culture
Why do successful people get things done at the last minute? Why does poverty persist? Why do organizations get stuck firefighting? Why do the lonely find it hard to make friends? These questions seem unconnected, yet Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir show that they are all are examples of a mind-set produced by scarcity.
Drawing on cutting-edge research from behavioral science and economics, Mullainathan and Shafir show that scarcity creates a similar psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before. Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity and the strategies it imposes, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus.
Mullainathan and Shafir discuss how scarcity affects our daily lives, recounting anecdotes of their own foibles and making surprising connections that bring this research alive. Their book provides a new way of understanding why the poor stay poor and the busy stay busy, and it reveals not only how scarcity leads us astray but also how individuals and organizations can better manage scarcity for greater satisfaction and success.