Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey Sachs is an American economist known for advising governments on economic development, debt relief, and transitions from centrally planned to market economies.

Bolivian hyperinflation: A severe inflation crisis in Bolivia during the 1980s, ended by a sharp stabilization program. Sachs advised Bolivia’s government on the 1985 stabilization that halted hyperinflation.
Shock therapy: A rapid transition strategy that liberalizes prices, trade, and ownership while stabilizing public finances. Sachs became closely associated with rapid market reforms in post-communist economies.
Gradualism: An approach to economic reform that introduces major changes incrementally rather than all at once. Gradualist critics opposed the pace of rapid transitions Sachs often recommended.
Extreme poverty: A condition in which people lack the income or resources needed to meet basic needs. Sachs has argued that targeted investments can help countries escape persistent extreme poverty.
Leszek Balcerowicz: A Polish economist and politician who led Poland’s early market reforms after communist rule. Balcerowicz led the Polish reform program Sachs advised during the transition from central planning.
Economic stabilization: Policies intended to reduce inflation and restore sustainable public finances and external balances. Bolivia’s crisis response exemplified Sachs’s stabilization advice.
Washington Consensus: A label for a set of market-oriented policy prescriptions promoted for developing economies from the 1980s onward. Sachs’s reform advice is often discussed alongside, but is not identical to, this policy agenda.
Poverty trap: A self-reinforcing condition in which poverty prevents the investments needed to raise future income. This framework underpins Sachs’s case for a large initial investment in some poor countries.
Boris Yeltsin: The first president of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. Sachs advised Russian officials during the early post-Soviet economic transition under Yeltsin.
Debt relief: The reduction, restructuring, or cancellation of debts owed by governments or other borrowers. Sachs advocated reducing poor countries’ debt burdens to free resources for development.

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