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I attended a talk given by Jeffrey Sachs yesterday. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Sachs is a rather huge deal when it comes to development economics. Love him or hate him, when he speaks, influential people listen. The talk was very interesting overall; here are some quick thoughts:

1) Attending a Sachs lecture is like attending church/mosque/synagogue: it reminds you of all the things you should be doing, but aren't. You walk away with a slightly stronger conviction that you will try harder this time, but knowing all the while that reality will get in the way.

2) Sachs has completed a remarkable intellectual shift in his career. He began with pro-market/small-government "shock therapy" policy recommendations that were tested in post-communist Poland, Bolivia and Russia. Now, two decades later, Sachs' idea of a model society is Sweden with its 50% tax rate. Indeed, most of his lecture focused around how America needs more (and better) government. I was already well aware of this shift, but it was still fascinating to hear it spoken so plainly.

(As a side-note, one of my undergrad econ TAs suggested that this was the best way to make a name for yourself in economics: start by espousing rigid pro-market theories, then gradually moderate your work to the center or left side of the spectrum. I wonder if that still holds true.)

3) Someone in the audience pointed out that the main themes of Sachs' talk were identical to those put forward by J.K. Galbraith in his 1958 book The Affluent Society - that is to say, even as the private sector has grown rich in recent decades, the wealth of the public sphere (in America) has not kept pace. This trend has created widening income disparities, crumbling infrastructure, a weakened welfare state, etc. It's interesting to see how we've returned to the very same debate 50 years later, and attitudes haven't really changed much.

4) While I don't agree with all of Jeff Sachs' priorities, his overall point was dead on: we cannot treat this crisis like an ordinary dip in the business cycle. Policies with short-run horizons that are designed to bring our financial markets back to normal are doomed to fail: "normal" was the problem, and we should not attempt to re-create it.