On December 7, 2018, I spoke with Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, author and President of Copenhagen Consensus Center, a singularly innovative and influential US-based think tank. Dr. Lomborg and his team have done the hard conceptual and empirical work necessary to turn good intentions for global improvement into implementable and economically efficient strategies. That’s really saying something. They have, among other things, analyzed the UN Millenial goals (169 of them, which is far too many), prioritizing and rank-ordering them in terms of practical implementability and costs and benefits. Those who claim to truly care about the world’s dispossessed could do far worse than to study Dr. Lomborg’s work.

Relevant links re Lomborg:

One-page overview of rank-ordered developmental goals

A collection of articles outlining the most appropriate targets for education, health, gender, infrastructure, etc.

Where should we focus: Lomborg’s commentary in Times of India

The top 19 targets for world development

TED talks: On prioritization: On the cost of global problems: (also a book)

Specific Book Links (amazon.com):

The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001)

Cool It (2007) (Film)

How to Spend 75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place (2014)

The Nobel Laureates Guide to the Smartest Targets for the World (2015)

Prioritizing Development: A Cost Benefit Analysis of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2018)

Make yourself smart and informed on climate and other issues of sustainability and development

27 climate economists and 3 Nobel Laureates examine where a dollar can do the climate the most good

The Paris Accord: Minimal outcome, $1.2 trillion cost: explained in a short video

How to make government smarter (with the specific example of recent developments in Bangladesh)