I Dissent: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Is “boom and bust” a permanent feature of the capitalist order? Do global markets need global regulation – and are today’s supranational institutions the right ones to provide it? Is the dream of a Third Way between today’s global capitalism and yesterday’s discredited socialism still alive?

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The Crisis Down Under

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-08-05

Australia had the shortest and shallowest of recessions of the advanced industrial countries, thanks to one of the best-designed Keynesian stimulus packages in the world. But that hasn't stopped opponents from focusing needlessly on inefficient spending, and on the fiscal deficit that the downturn and the government’s response created.... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 1 Read: 18215

Taming Finance in an Age of Austerity

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-07-08

Finance is supposed to serve the interests of the rest of society, not the other way around. Having gotten the world into its current economic mess, financial markets are now dictating fiscal austerity to countries that have no choice but to go along - and then betting against these countries when they do.... read

Comments: 5 Recommended: 3 Read: 13791

Financial Re-Regulation and Democracy

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-06-04

It has taken almost two years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and more than three years since the beginning of the global recession brought on by the financial sector’s misdeeds, for the US and Europe finally to reform financial regulation. But banks that wreaked havoc on the global economy continue to resist reform – with support from some who should know better. ... read

Comments: 4 Recommended: 1 Read: 20481

Can the Euro be Saved?

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-05-05

It is not too late for the EU to implement the institutional reforms needed to make the euro work, and thus live up to the ideals, based on solidarity, that underlay the common currency's creation. But if Europe cannot do so, then perhaps it is better to admit failure and move on than to extract a high price in unemployment and human suffering in the name of a flawed economic model.... read

Comments: 21 Recommended: 3 Read: 49448

No Time for a Trade War

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-04-06

The battle over China’s exchange rate is heating up again, with the US Treasury soon to assess whether China is a “currency manipulator.” But the concept itself is flawed – all governments take actions that directly or indirectly affect the exchange rate – and China's multilateral trade surplus is significantly smaller than that of Saudi Arabia or the combined total for Japan and Germany.... read

Comments: 12 Recommended: 5 Read: 23776

The Dangers of Deficit Reduction

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-03-05

Even with large deficits, economic growth in the US and Europe is anemic, and forecasts of private-sector growth suggest that in the absence of continued government support, there is risk of continued stagnation – of growth too weak to return unemployment to normal levels. if these forecasts are right, a premature “exit” from deficit spending is not worth the risk. ... read

Comments: 7 Recommended: 0 Read: 28002

Muddling Out of Freefall

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-02-05

Barack Obama wanted to bridge the divides among Americans that George W. Bush had opened. But now those divides are wider than ever, and Obama's attempts to please everyone, so evident in the last few weeks, are likely to mollify no one.... read

Comments: 6 Recommended: 1 Read: 19607

Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-01-06

Underlying the failure of the climate change summit in Copenhagen last month is the failure of the idea that carbon-emission rights can be allocated fairly. Perhaps it is time to try another approach: a commitment by each country to raise the price of emissions (whether through a carbon tax or emissions caps) to an agreed level, say, $80 per ton.... read

Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 16941

Too Big to Live

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2009-12-07

If we have learned one lesson from the financial crisis, it is that the bigger the bank, and the more risk-taking that big banks are allowed to engage in, the greater the threat to our economies and our societies. That is why we need a multi-prong approach, including special taxes, increased capital requirements, tighter supervision, and limits on size and risk-taking activities.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 2 Read: 22373

Let A Hundred Theories Bloom	George Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz
If science is defined by its ability to forecast the future, the failure of much of the economics profession to see the crisis coming should be a cause of great concern. But there is, in fact, a much greater diversity of ideas within economics than is often realized, and there is now more reason than ever to hope that those ideas will receive the broad attention that they deserve.... read

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Corporate Liability for Human Rights

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2003-11-06

Wittingly or unwittingly, individuals do things that injure other individuals. For society to function, it must provide individuals with incentives not to do so, through rewards and punishments, regulations and fines. By polluting the air, one harms anyone who breathes. The legal system has an important role here. If I injure you, you should be able to sue me. ... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read:

Do What We Did, Not What We Say

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2003-10-06

Today, many emerging markets, from Indonesia to Mexico, are told that there is a certain code of conduct to which they must conform if they are to be successful. The message is clear: here is what advanced industrial countries do, and have done. If you wish to join the club, you must do the same. The reforms will be painful, vested interests will resist, but with enough political will, you will reap the benefits. ... read

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Just Say No to Bush

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2003-09-24

For three years, America's president has pursued a unilateralist agenda, ignoring all evidence that contradicts his positions, and putting aside basic and longstanding American principles. ... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read:

The IMF Fails Again

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2003-09-24

It is six years since the IMF's fateful meeting in Hong Kong, just before the global financial crisis. I was there. What a peculiar meeting it was. To those paying attention, it was clear that a crisis loomed. Capital market liberalization was the culprit, exposing countries to the vagaries of international capital flows--to both irrational pessimism and optimism, not to mention the manipulation of speculators. ... read

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Happy Days Are Not Here Again

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2003-08-06

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the non-profit organization that has long been responsible for marking the beginning and end of America's recessions, has finally declared that the recession that it said began in March 2001 is over. In fact, the NBER says that it ended almost two years ago, in November 2001. ... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read:

Can the Euro be Saved?

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2010-05-05

Comments: 21 Recommended: 3 Read: 49448

Intellectual-Property Rights and Wrongs

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2005-08-05

Last October, the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) decided to consider what a development-oriented intellectual property regime might look like. The move was little noticed, but, in some ways, it was as important as the World Trade Organization’s decision that the current round of trade negotiations be devoted to development. Both decisions acknowledge that the current rules of the international economic game reflect the interests of the advanced industrial countries – especially of their big corporations – more than the interests of the developing world.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 46160

The True Costs of the Iraq War

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2006-02-03

The most important things in life like life itself are priceless. But that doesn’t mean that issues involving the preservation of life (or a way of life), like defense, should not be subjected to cool, hard economic analysis.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 42350

The End of Neo-liberalism?

Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

2008-07-07

History has not been kind to neo-liberalism, that grab-bag of ideas based on the fundamentalist notion that markets are self-correcting, allocate resources efficiently, and serve the public interest well. Learning the lesson that neo-liberalism was always a political doctrine serving certain special interests may be the silver lining in the cloud now hanging over the global economy.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 41847

The Failure of Inflation Targeting	Joseph E. Stiglitz
Inflation targeting – the view that whenever price growth exceeds the target level, interest rates should be raised – is being put to the test by soaring global energy and food prices. It will inevitably fail, at great cost to those countries that maintain it, because imported inflation can be reduced only at the price of a sharp economic slowdown and high unemployment.... read
Global Malaise in 2006?	Joseph E. Stiglitz
The almighty American consumer had another banner year in 2005, helping sustain global economic growth, albeit at a slower pace than in 2004. As in recent years, he consumed at or above his income level, and the United States as a whole spent well beyond its means, borrowing from the rest of the world at a feverish pace in 2005 – more than $2 billion a day.... read

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Joseph E. Stiglitz

Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate in Economics. His latest book, Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy, is now available in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

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I Dissent: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

Joseph E. Stiglitz

The Crisis Down Under

Taming Finance in an Age of Austerity

Financial Re-Regulation and Democracy

Can the Euro be Saved?

No Time for a Trade War

The Dangers of Deficit Reduction

Muddling Out of Freefall

Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure

Too Big to Live

Corporate Liability for Human Rights

Do What We Did, Not What We Say

Just Say No to Bush

The IMF Fails Again

Happy Days Are Not Here Again

Can the Euro be Saved?

Intellectual-Property Rights and Wrongs

The True Costs of the Iraq War

The End of Neo-liberalism?

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