Philanthrocapitalism How Giving Can Save the World

Our world faces enormous challenges, from climate change to poverty and killer disease in the developing world, to failing education systems at home. How are we going to find solutions to a troubling spectrum of problems? Government does not have all the answers. The most effective responses are increasingly coming from a new generation of philanthropists. These philanthrocapitalists, who have harnessed technology and globalization to earn epic fortunes, are using their business skills to engineer social change. Bill Gates leads the way: He has promised to give away his considerable fortune, dedicating much of it to finding cures for the diseases that kill millions of children in the poorest countries in the world.

Matthew Bishop is chief business writer of the Economist. Michael Green is an expert on the relationship between government and the nongovernmental sector, particularly in the field of international development. Bishop lives in London, Green in New York.