Jeffrey David Sachs (born November 5, 1954, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American economist known for his work as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa.
He is currently a professor on the faculty at the School of International and Public Affairs and director of the Earth Institute, both at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Director of the UN Millennium Project.
He proposed "shock therapy" (though he himself dislikes the term) as a solution to the economic crises of Bolivia, Poland, and Russia. He is also known for his work with international agencies on problems of poverty reduction, debt cancellation, and disease control — especially HIV/AIDS, for the developing world. He advocated distribution of free insecticide-treated bed nets to combat malaria. He is the only academic to have been repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine
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