Prioritizing Development

'It is vital that funds for international development are deployed to the greatest impact, given the scale of the needs in many nations around the world. The challenge of sustainably eliminating poverty is complex and challenging. Evidence-based policy is critical to ensure the greatest benefit is delivered to people in the most impoverished communities. Contributions to the ongoing debate about the most effective approaches to international development must be welcomed and the Copenhagen Consensus Center continues to play an important role in that process.' Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia

'This book shows how data and economic evidence can help improve outcomes in development spending. By focusing on costs and benefits, this book challenges all of us to question our priorities, and sets out the case for policy-makers to sharpen the Sustainable Development agenda so that more is achieved with scarce dollars.' Lawrence H. Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University, Director of the National Economic Council in the Obama Administration, Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration and former Chief Economist at the World Bank

'The Copenhagen Consensus should be applauded for its campaign to bring rigorous CBA evidence to bear in public debates on the scope of the SDGs. The papers collected here informed a comprehensive scorecard that covered the majority of the proposed targets and was available during the final year of negotiations. The analysis suggested what was at stake: assuming best-practice interventions, a failure to prioritize across goals could reduce a comprehensive measure of total benefits by 75 percent or more per dollar of costs. Losses of similar magnitude could accompany the pursuit of overambitious target levels or suboptimal interventions.' Stefan Dercon and Stephen A. O'Connell, former Chief Economist DFID and former Chief Economist USAID, from the Foreword

'We welcome this contribution from the Copenhagen Consensus Center and remain confident that it, along with all ideas and similar initiatives from civil society stakeholders, will enrich the deliberations.' Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning to the Secretary General of the United Nations

'Effective investments for today's children are fundamental for a better and more equitable world in future. The Copenhagen Consensus Centre brings a simple but compelling logic to this endeavour: if we want to make sure that this world is realized for our children, let's focus on the investments that will generate the most good.' Richard Morgan, Senior Advisor on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UNICEF

'Figuring out the best way to help the world's poor isn't like solving a math problem. There are not right and wrong answers. But there are better and worse answers, and the only way to assign those priorities is to set aside our senti...

Bjorn Lomborg is President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and a visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School. He researches the smartest ways to do good, for which he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. His numerous books include The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge, 2001), Cool It (2007), How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place (2014) and The Nobel Laureates' Guide to the Smartest Targets for the World 2016-2030 (2015).

Foreword Stefan Dercon and Stephen A. O'Connell; Introduction Bjorn Lomborg; 1. Benefits and costs of air pollution targets for the post-2015 development agenda Bjorn Larsen; 2. Targets for biodiversity and deforestation Anil Markandya; 3. Climate change Isabel Galiana; 4. Beyond civil war: the costs of interpersonal violence James Fearon and Anke Hoeffler; 5. Data revolution: the cost and benefit of data needed to monitor the post-2015 development agenda Morten Jerven; 6. Post-2015 consensus: education challenge paper George Psacharopoulos; 7. Benefits and costs of the energy targets for the post-2015 development agenda Isabel Galiana and Amy Sopinka; 8. Benefits and costs of the IFF targets for the post-2015 development agenda Alex Cobham; 9. Benefits and costs of the trade targets for the post-2015 development agenda Kym Anderson; 10. Benefits and costs of the health targets for the post-2015 development agenda Prabhat Jha, Ryan Hum, Cindy L. Gauvreau and Keeley Jordan; 11. Benefits and costs of the non-communicable disease targets for the post-2015 development agenda Rachel Nugent and Elizabeth Brouwer; 12. Benefits and costs of the women's health targets for the post-2015 development agenda Dara Lee Luca, Johanne Helene Iversen, Alyssa Shiraishi Lubet, Elizabeth Mitgang, Kristine Husy Onarheim, Klaus Prettner and David E. Bloom; 13. Benefits and costs of TB control for the post-2015 development agenda Anna Vassall; 14. Benefits and costs of the infant mortality targets for the post-2015 development agenda Gnther Fink; 15. Benefits and costs of the HIV/AIDS targets for the post-2015 development agenda Pascal Geldsetzer, Salal Humair, David E. Bloom and Till Brnighausen; 16. Benefits and costs of the Malaria targets for the post-2015 consensus project Neha Raykar and Ramanan Laxminarayan; 17. Benefits and costs of digital technology: infrastructure targets for the post-2015 development agenda Emmanuelle Auriol and Alexia Lee Gonzlez Fanfalone; 18. Returns to investment in reducing postharvest food losses and increasing agricultural productivity growth Mark W. Rosegrant, Eduardo Magalhaes, Rowena A. Valmonte-Santos and Daniel Mason-D'Croz; 19. Benefits and costs of the gender equality targets for the post-2015 development agenda Irma Clots-Figueras; 20. Benefits and costs of the food and nutrition targets for the post-2015 development agenda Susan Horton and John Hoddinott; 21. Benefits and costs of the population and demography targets for the post-2015 development agenda Hans-Peter Kohler and Jere R. Behrman; 22. Benefits and costs of two science and technology targets for the post-2015 development agenda Keith Maskus; 23. Benefits and costs of the water sanitation and hygiene targets for the post-2015 development agenda Guy Hutton; 24. Benefits and costs of the poverty targets for the post-2015 development agenda John Gibson; 25. Good governance and the sustainable development goals Mary E. Hilderbrand; Conclusion: identifying phenomenal...