Joseph E. Stiglitz's Globalization and Its Discontents: Examining the Impact of International Economic Integration

Frank Calberg: Takeaways from reading the book:
- Page 76: Uganda's President abolished school fees. By doing that the President ignored advice of outside experts who said that small fees had little impact on school enrollment. The result: School enrollment went up considerably. Families sent all their children to school - including girls.
- Page 182: China's reforms began in agriculture with a change from a collective system of production to one that focused on individual responsibility. An important change was also to invite foreign firms to invest in China. State-owned enterprises were downsized. The housing stock was privatized. Lots of new, small companies were being created by people. A key aspect underlying the significant transformation of the Chinese economy was the priority that was put on avoiding unemployment in order to keep social stability.
- Page 218: There are important disagreements about economic and social policy in our democracies. Some of these disagreements are about values. How concerned should we be about, for example, a) the environment, b) people who have low incomes, or c) democracy?
- Page 227: The most important way to ensure that the international...

Germany on Apr 11, 2023

Kumar: Aptly written

India on Mar 07, 2023

Rajat: Nothing comes even close to this masterpiece.

India on Oct 21, 2022

Clancy Hughes: To his credit Stieglitz paints an all too accurate picture of the failings of globalism including the exacerbation of wealth accumulated on the banking, investment, multinational side of the market. Thomas Piketty describes these investment dollars growing faster than income as well, but neither fully appreciate the sized of the liquidity drain from the consumer side off the market.

Stieglitz takes the optimistic position that globalism can be fixed and fixed in such a way as to protect those who are adversely effected by the outsourcing of jobs and manufacturing including services and loss of discretionary purchasing power. He would do so with tax credits and entitlements, however. That alone confirms that globalism is not just a contemporary failure but structurally flawed and unsustainable.

The book contains extensive and I would say unsubstantiated slanderous accusations against President Trump that clouds the otherwise credible evaluations of the economy. Don’t get me wrong, this appears to be the only economist willing to acknowledge the actual damage done by globalism.

In listing solutions to the problems with globalization, Stieglitz faces the issue...

United States on Dec 23, 2018

GMak: The author's credentials are impeccable - start with winning the Nobel Prize for Economics, among other things - and you can rely on the information and message in this book to be written from the vantage point witnessed few people, and understood by even fewer. This nether "conservative bashing" or "liberal bashing;" rather, "idiot bashing" and "ideologue bashing" as we learn that the current policies, efforts, objectives and results of the World Bank (and it's parter, the IMF) are now in complete opposition to the very raison d'être and principles on which it was founded. Stiglitz presents both the 30,000 foot view and the ground view, shows us the forest as well as the trees. This book is fundamental reading for anyone hoping to understand the world finance situation, the role of the U.S., the continuing underlying problems that cause the world to leap from one financial crises to another. Importantly, you learn why all this money thrown at problems simply isn't working - but how it once did, and could again.

This should be considered a companion book of a trilogy to those wishing to learn from highly educated, directly-experienced and politically objective experts -...

United States on Apr 23, 2014

Luc REYNAERT: As Joseph Stiglitz explains in this remarkably candid analysis, globalization (the removal of barriers of free trade and the closer integration of national economics) has, in theory, the potential to enrich everyone in the world. But, the way it has been managed, including the international trade agreements and the policies imposed on developing countries, was not less than disastrous.
The main culprits for the disaster were international economic institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
Joseph Stiglitz attacks in this book relentlessly the IMF, accusing it even of cooking the books (data and economic forecasts) in order to make its programs seem to work!
It failed in its original mission of promoting global economic stability and served instead the interest of global finance.
The author calls it completely incompetent (!) and its policies ‘a blend of ideology and bad economics’. With its ‘colonial mentality and social insensitivity’ it forced its catastrophic fundamentalist ‘free market dogma’ on its client states. It stressed fiscal austerity, excessively rapid privatization and market liberalization, even before social safety nets were in place...

United Kingdom on Feb 22, 2006

Friederike Knabe: It is always better to hear things from the horse's mouth. Eminent economist (Nobel Prize Winner no less) Joseph Stiglitz has been directly involved with some of the most serious financial crises in recent times. Not limited to academia and economic theory he served in high profile policy positions including as senior VP and chief economist in the World Bank. For me, it's also important that he spent extensive time with people in the affected countries. The description of modern international economic management: "from one's luxury hotel, one can callously impose policies about which one would think twice if one knew the people whose life one was destroying..." (p. 24) does not apply to him. His case studies provide the backdrop for his analysis of globalization as well as concrete evidence for some of his critical contentions. This is not a dry economics book; it is a captivating read that offers a very accessible examination of global economic and financial systems.
To position Stiglitz up-front: he is not against globalization - in his estimation it is quality-neutral as a conception and it is here to stay. The aim of his study is to show what lessons need to be learned and...

Canada on Mar 05, 2003