Citation:
 | 570_stiglitzrev.pdf | 30 KB |
Abstract:
This book has already received wide attention. Its distinguished author has taught economics at Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, and now Columbia University. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics for his contributions to understanding the impact of asymmetric information on economic behavior and institutions. He served on President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, first as member, then as chairman, before moving in early 1997 to the World Bank as senior vice president and chief economist. Thus he had a ring–side seat among policy–makers during a significant decade which saw the completion of NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, the creation of the World Trade Organization, the transformation of former communist countries to market economies, rapid growth in the world's two most populous poor countries, and several serious financial crises.
Stiglitz reminds his readers again and again that the ultimate purpose of economic policy should be security and prosperity for all—gainful employment, growth in income, adequate public services,especially health and education—that foster individual well-being and facilitate further growth.