Jeffrey Sachs for World Bank President

What’s the Latest Development?

Columbia economist and development expert Jeffrey Sachs has publicly outlined what he would do as president of the World Bank. Sachs says he is ready “to lead the bank into a new era of problem-solving” by working with “industry, governments and civil society to bring broadband to clinics, schools and health workers, creating a revolution of knowledge, disease control, quality education and small businesses.” The presidency of the World Bank, a $16 billion multinational development fund, will become vacant this July. 

What’s the Big Idea?

Though the World Bank is a multinational organization, the US has traditionally appointed its president. If that tradition continues, its president should be a development expert ready to hit the ground running, says Sachs, who helped launch the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria as well as headed the UN’s Millennium Develop Goals. Sachs would also prioritize develop the world’s mega-cities with a concern for the impoverished and harnessing solar power in the deserts of Asia and Africa to service hundreds of millions of people without electricity. 

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