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Duncan Green puts $700 billion into a development perspective. That sum:
· Would clear the accumulated debt of the 49 poorest countries in the world ($375bn) twice over· Is almost 5 times the annual amount of extra aid needed to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals on poverty, health, education etc ($150bn a year)· Is about 7 years of current global aid levels ($104bn in 2007)· Is enough to eradicate all world poverty for over two years (UNDP calculates it would take $300bn to get the entire world population over the $1 a day poverty line).On the other hand it’s· only a quarter of the cost of the Iraq war ($3 trillion on Joseph Stiglitz’ calculation )· a half of annual global military spending ($1339 bn)Chris Blattman adds one more: "it would buy me 20 million research assistants and allow me to fill the AER and APSR with articles until the next Ice Age." "It's just a thought."(Via Tyler Cowen, who also links to the financial crisis in pictures.)
