Doing “The Best Things First,” with Bjorn Lomborg | Uncommon Knowledge | Peter Robinson | Hoover Institution
Jun 25, 2024
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Bjorn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, discusses prioritizing policies, economic growth, and technology solutions in global development with Peter Robinson. They explore investing in global issues, contrasting UN development goals, calculating costs and benefits, addressing tuberculosis, global food security, trade, tariffs, and rethinking climate change priorities.
Efficient resource allocation can save lives and boost welfare globally.
Prioritizing aid initiatives based on cost-benefit analysis yields higher returns on investment.
Deep dives
Bjorn Lomborg's Vision for Global Aid Contributions
Bjorn Lomborg proposes a cost-effective plan where, with an annual budget of $35 billion, 4.2 million lives could be saved each year, significantly improving the economic welfare of the poorer half of the world by over a trillion dollars annually. This plan involves contributions from various entities, including development organizations, philanthropists like Bill Gates, individual donors, and governments of low and lower middle income countries, emphasizing collective global effort for smarter spending.
Evaluating UN Development Goals
Lomborg compares the success of the UN's Millennium Development Goals in 2000, which focused on poverty reduction, education, and healthcare, to the broader and less effective Sustainable Development Goals of 2015. While the former had clear objectives leading to notable progress, the latter's extensive list of 169 goals lacked prioritization and practicality, exemplifying a shift from focused achievements to unattainable promises.
Economic Analysis of Benefits and Costs in Aid Initiatives
The rationale behind Lomborg's 'Best Things First' approach lies in his emphasis on calculating both the costs and benefits of aid initiatives. By demonstrating the economic value of saving a life, improving general welfare, and enhancing productivity through research and development, Lomborg highlights the importance of efficient resource allocation to yield high returns on investment.
Focus on Tuberculosis Treatment and Prevention
Despite tuberculosis being a treatable disease, 1.4 million people still succumb to it annually in developing countries. Lomborg stresses the significance of proper diagnosis, treatment, and prevention strategies, estimating a $6.2 billion yearly investment could potentially save one million lives while addressing societal stigmas and access barriers to healthcare services for those affected.
Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank dedicated to applying economic analysis, including cost-benefit analysis, to proposed policies around the issues of the day. He’s also a visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He's the author of many books, including the 2001 bestseller The Skeptical Environmentalist. His latest book, and the topic for this interview, is Best Things First. Offering cost-benefit analyses of many of the top-line policies of industrial and developing nations, Dr. Lomborg discusses which policies we should prioritize and which we should pay less attention to or end. Lomborg also asserts the benefits of economic growth and says that by spending on technology, we can solve all kinds of big problems, including hunger.
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