Larry Summers and 266 Other Economists Tell the UN It's All About Health Care

Harvard's Summers says making the poor healthier gives a big bang for the buck.

Larry Summers

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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As the United Nations launches a 17-point agenda for helping the world's poor, 267 economists from 44 countries on Friday published a declaration advocating one particular way: Make people healthier.

"In terms of how much better you can make the world per dollar you spend, it’s very difficult to beat a set of strategic investments in health care," Harvard University economist Larry Summers, who organized the manifesto, said in an interview. "Ours is the unique generation that has the prospect of convergence across the world in health," making the poor as healthy as the rich, Summers said.