Why are millions dying of neglected diseases without vaccines, and is there a way to cheaply change that? Owen Barder, Michael Kremer and Heidi Williams advocate a proposal--Advance Market Commitments--that the G8 finance ministers plan to pilot in 2006.

Developing countries with highly unequal income distributions, such as Brazil or South Africa, face an uphill battle in reducing inequality. Educated workers in these countries have a much lower birth rate than uneducated workers. Assuming children of educated workers are more likely to become...