Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey Sachs achieved tenure as a professor of economics at Harvard University by age 28 in 1983, a career built on earning his B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard College (1976), and an M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1980) from Harvard University.

From 2002 to 2016, he directed The Earth Institute, significantly shaping international policy on sustainable development and economic growth. From 2001 to 2018, Sachs served as a special advisor to the UN Secretary-General, playing a crucial role in advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and later the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He co-founded and became chief strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger, concurrently directing the UN Millennium Project’s work on the MDGs from 2002 to 2006. A prolific author and advocate, Sachs is the founding editor of the World Happiness Report, contributing extensively to discussions on climate change, disease control, and globalization.

He became a commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development in 2010 and co-authored ‘The Age of Sustainable Development’ (2015). Serving as president of the Eastern Economic Association in 2016, he received the first World Sustainability Award and the Boris Mints Institute Prize in 2017. His recent publications include ‘A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism’ (2018) and ‘The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions’ (2020). Most recently, Sachs was awarded the prestigious Tang Prize in Sustainable Development in 2022, underscoring his lasting impact on global policy and sustainable solutions.