Global Problems, Smart Solutions
Costs and Benefits

A high profile thought experiment asks leading scholars to make cases for spending additional aid money to combat major world problems.

Bjørn Lomborg (Edited by)

9781107039599, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 November 2013

766 pages, 110 b/w illus. 172 tables
24.9 x 17.3 x 3.8 cm, 1.56 kg

Praise for the Copenhagen Consensus 2004–2013: 'One of the greatest leadership skills discussed in the Global Leadership Forum in Washington DC (October 2012) was the Copenhagen Consensus simulation. This activity was very important because it gave us the opportunity to work together on a key leadership skill: building consensus around difficult issues.' Naglaa Hassab, Humphrey Fellow, MBA student in Economic Development, Finance and Banking, Egypt

Every four years since 2004, the Copenhagen Consensus Center has organized and hosted a high profile thought experiment about how a hypothetical extra $75 billion of development assistance money might best be spent to solve twelve of the major crises facing the world today. Collated in this specially commissioned book, a group of more than 50 experts make their cases for investment, discussing how to combat problems ranging from armed conflicts, corruption and trade barriers, to natural disasters, hunger, education and climate change. For each case, 'Alternative Perspectives' are also included to provide a critique and make other suggestions for investment. In addition, a panel of senior economists, including four Nobel Laureates, rank the attractiveness of each policy proposal in terms of its anticipated cost-benefit ratio. This thought-provoking book opens up debate, encouraging readers to come up with their own rankings and decide which solutions are smarter than others.

Introduction Bjørn Lomborg
Part I. The Solutions: 1. Armed conflicts J. Paul Dunne
1.1 Alternative perspective Anke Hoeffler
1.2 Alternative perspective Andrew Mack
2. The challenge of ecosystems and biodiversity Salman Hussain, Anil Markandya, Luke Brander, Alistair McVittie, Rudolf de Groot, Olivier Vardakoulias, Alfred Wagtendonk and Peter H. Verburg
2.1 Alternative perspective Juha V. Siikamäki
2.2 Alternative perspective John C. Whitehead and Paul E. Chambers
3. Chronic disease prevention and control Prabhat Jha, Rachel Nugent, Stéphane Verguet, David Bloom and Ryan Hum
3.1 Alternative perspective Julia Fox-Rushby
3.2 Alternative perspective Marc Suhrcke
4. Climate change: CO2 abatement Richard S. J. Tol
Technology-led mitigation Isabel Galiana and Christopher Green
Climate-engineering R&D J. Eric Bickel and Lee Lane
Climate-change adaptation Francesco Bosello, Carlo Carraro and Enrica De Cian
4.1 Alternative perspective Samuel Fankhauser
4.2 Alternative perspective Anil Markandya
5. Education: the case for improving school quality and student health as a development strategy Peter F. Orazem
5.1. Alternative perspective Lant Pritchett
5.2 Alternative perspective George Psacharopoulos
6. Hunger and malnutrition: investments to reduce hunger and undernutrition John Hoddinott, Mark Rosegrant and Maximo Torero
6.1 Alternative perspective Anil B. Deolalikar
6.2 Alternative perspective Beatrice Lorge Rogers
7. Infectious disease, injury, and reproductive health Dean T. Jamison, Prabhat Jha, Ramanan Laxminarayan and Toby Ord
7.1 Alternative perspective Till Bärnighausen, David Bloom and Salal Humair
7.2 Alternative perspective David Canning
8. Policy options for reducing losses from natural disasters: allocating $75 billion Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan
8.1 Alternative perspective Stéphane Hallegatte
8.2 Alternative perspective Ilan Noy
9. Population growth Hans-Peter Kohler
9.1 Alternative perspective Oded Galor
9.2 Alternative perspective David Lam
10. Water and sanitation Frank Rijsberman and Alix Peterson Zwane
10.1 Alternative perspective W. Michael Hanemann
10.2 Alternative perspective Guy Hutton
11. Corruption and policy reform Susan Rose-Ackerman and Rory Truex
12. Trade barriers and subsidies: multilateral and regional reform opportunities Kym Anderson
Part II. Ranking the Opportunities: Expert Panel Ranking Finn E. Kydland, Robert Mundell, Thomas Schelling, Vernon Smith and Nancy Stokey
Conclusion: making your own prioritisation Bjørn Lomborg
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economics [KC]