Best Things First

By: Bjorn Lomborg

Narrated by: Pete Ferrand

In this urgent, thought-provoking book, Bjorn Lomborg presents the 12 most efficient solutions for the world's poorest and our global SDG promises. If you want to make the world better, Best Things First is the book to listen to.

World leaders have promised everything to everyone. But they are failing. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to be delivered by 2030. The goals literally promise everything, like eradicating poverty, hunger, and disease; stopping war and climate change, ending corruption, fixing education along with countless other promises. This year, the world is at halftime for its promises but nowhere near halfway. Together with more than a hundred of the world’s top economists, Bjorn Lomborg has worked for years to identify the world’s best solutions. Based on 12 new peer-reviewed papers, forthcoming in Cambridge University Press’ Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, this book highlights the world’s best policies.

Some things are difficult to fix, cost a lot, and help little. Other problems we know how to fix, at low cost, with remarkable outcomes. We should do the smart things first.

Governments and philanthropists should focus on these 12 smartest things. Fix tuberculosis, malaria, and chronic disease, tackle malnutrition, improve education, increase trade, implement e-procurement, and secure land tenure. This will improve the world amazingly. The cost is $35 billion a year. The benefits include saving 4.2 million lives each year and generating $1.1 trillion more for the world’s poor.

We can definitely afford it: The cost of $35 billion is equivalent to the increase in annual global spending on cosmetics over the last two years. This is likely the best thing the world can do this decade.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Bjorn Lomborg (P)2023 Copenhagen Consensus Center

A must read.

This book analyzes and dissect the major areas of improvement across the globe with cost benefit analysis for the best investments to advance humankind.

Wonderful book but mentions constantly a PDF that

Love the book, its content and structure. But it relies heavily on figures and tables that are mentioned at least 5 times each chapter. The problem is that this pdf os nowhere to be found. Not in the Audible library, amazon product page or the copenhagen consensus website...

Excellent book

Insightful analysis on the most urgent global priorities and how to address them effectively. Most recommended

Incredible research value

It is a lesson in logic, we can use to attain and sustain higher levels of civilization

A bit overstated

The claim that starvation causes over 1 million deaths per year seems out of touch with today's reality. I've been in the poorest countries and one just doesn't observe hunger as it existed in the early 1900s.
Its difficult to find people truly starving of hunger except for war, genocide, and authoritarianism. otherwise his treatise of malaria & climate change were helpful.