Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz
Born	Joseph Eugene Stiglitz 9 2, 1943
Birthplace	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Economist, professor, author, public policy analyst
Title	University Professor at Columbia University
Known for	Information asymmetries, market failures, critique of globalization, Georgist public finance
Education	Ph.D. in Economics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Awards	Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001), John Bates Clark Medal (1979)
Website	[https://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/ Official site]

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist, professor, author, and public policy analyst who has shaped contemporary understanding of how markets function — and, more often, how they fail. A recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001 for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and of the John Bates Clark Medal in 1979, Stiglitz has built a career that bridges academic theory and practical policy influence across decades. He served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1997 and as senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank from 1997 to 2000. Since 2001, he has served on the faculty of Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the institution's highest academic distinction. Stiglitz is known for his critical perspective on the management of globalization, laissez-faire economic orthodoxy, and the policies of international institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He has authored numerous influential books and remains an active commentator on economic policy, including trade, inequality, and the effects of tariffs on the U.S. economy.

Early Life

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz was born on February 9, 1943, in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city in the northwest corner of the state. Gary, at the time of Stiglitz's birth, was a steel-producing center whose economic fortunes were tied to the U.S. manufacturing sector. Growing up in this environment, Stiglitz was exposed from an early age to the economic realities of industrial America — cycles of employment and unemployment, the effects of economic policy on working families, and the structural inequalities embedded in the American economy.

Stiglitz has noted that his upbringing in Gary influenced his later intellectual preoccupations with inequality, the role of government in correcting market failures, and the distributional consequences of economic policy. The city's dependence on a single industry and its vulnerability to broader economic shifts provided a formative context for an economist who would go on to challenge prevailing assumptions about the efficiency of unregulated markets.

Education

Stiglitz attended Amherst College, where he studied economics and developed an early interest in the theoretical foundations of the discipline. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the foremost centers of economic research in the United States. At MIT, Stiglitz studied under Robert Solow, a leading figure in growth economics who would himself later receive a Nobel Prize. Stiglitz completed his doctoral dissertation, titled "Studies in the Theory of Growth," in 1967. His doctoral work laid the groundwork for a research program that would evolve to encompass the economics of information, the functioning of capital markets, and the role of government in economic development. In addition to his time at MIT, Stiglitz spent time at the University of Cambridge as a Fulbright Scholar, exposing him to the British tradition of economics and the influence of John Maynard Keynes.

Career

Academic Career: Early Years

Following the completion of his Ph.D., Stiglitz embarked on an academic career that took him to several of the most prominent economics departments in the United States. He held positions at Yale University, Stanford University, Duke University, Princeton University, and the University of Oxford, among other institutions. During these years, Stiglitz produced a large body of theoretical work that challenged core tenets of classical and neoclassical economics. His research focused on the consequences of information asymmetries — situations in which one party to a transaction possesses more or better information than another — for the functioning of markets.

A landmark contribution came in 1981 with the publication, jointly with Andrew Weiss, of a paper on credit rationing, which demonstrated that in markets characterized by imperfect information, the standard equilibrium outcomes predicted by neoclassical economics may not hold. Banks, for example, may choose to ration credit rather than raise interest rates, because higher rates can attract riskier borrowers — a phenomenon known as adverse selection.

Stiglitz also made foundational contributions to the theory of screening, building on and extending the work of George Akerlof and Michael Spence on information problems in markets. His 1986 paper on externalities in economies with imperfect information and incomplete markets further developed the theoretical framework for understanding why free markets may fail to produce efficient outcomes. This work had far-reaching implications for public policy, providing a rigorous theoretical justification for government intervention in markets — not as a departure from economic logic, but as a correction for systematic market failures.

In the late 1980s, Stiglitz contributed to debates within macroeconomics through a series of influential papers examining the differences between Keynesian, New Keynesian, and New Classical approaches to economic theory. In his 1987 paper "Keynesian, New Keynesian, and New Classical Economics," Stiglitz articulated the case for a New Keynesian framework that incorporated imperfect information and price rigidities into macroeconomic models. A subsequent paper in 1988, "Examining Alternative Macroeconomic Theories," further explored these themes. Through this body of work, Stiglitz emerged as one of the leading voices in the New Keynesian school of economics.

Council of Economic Advisers

In 1993, Stiglitz was appointed as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under President Bill Clinton. He became chairman of the CEA on June 28, 1995, succeeding Laura Tyson in the position. In this role, Stiglitz served as a principal economic adviser to the president, contributing to the formulation of domestic and international economic policy during a period of sustained economic growth in the United States. He held the chairmanship until February 10, 1997, when he was succeeded by Janet Yellen.

During his tenure at the CEA, Stiglitz advocated for policies that reflected his academic research on information asymmetries and market failures. He emphasized the importance of government investment in education, technology, and infrastructure, and was skeptical of the deregulatory agenda that characterized much of the economic policy debate in Washington during the 1990s. His time at the CEA also brought him into closer contact with international economic policy issues, setting the stage for his subsequent role at the World Bank.

World Bank

In February 1997, Stiglitz was appointed senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, succeeding Michael Bruno. He served under World Bank President James Wolfensohn until February 2000, when he was succeeded by Nicholas Stern. At the World Bank, Stiglitz was responsible for overseeing the institution's research and analytical work and played a prominent role in shaping its policy recommendations to developing countries.

Stiglitz's tenure at the World Bank was marked by increasingly public disagreements with the policy prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), particularly during the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 and the economic crises in Russia and Latin America. He criticized the IMF's insistence on fiscal austerity, rapid capital market liberalization, and tight monetary policy as responses to financial crises in developing countries, arguing that these policies often deepened recessions, increased unemployment, and disproportionately harmed the poor.

These criticisms brought Stiglitz into conflict with senior officials at the IMF and the U.S. Treasury Department, and his departure from the World Bank in 2000 was widely reported as being connected to these disputes. Stiglitz subsequently published detailed accounts of his disagreements with the IMF, most notably in his 2002 book Globalization and Its Discontents, which became an international bestseller and a foundational text for critics of the prevailing model of economic globalization.

Columbia University and Policy Engagement

Following his departure from the World Bank, Stiglitz joined the faculty of Columbia University in 2001, where he holds positions in the Department of Economics and the Columbia Business School. In 2003, he was awarded the rank of University Professor, the highest academic distinction at Columbia, reserved for scholars of exceptional achievement and breadth.

In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), a think tank based at Columbia University that focuses on international development policy. The IPD brings together economists, political scientists, and policymakers to analyze and debate policy alternatives for developing countries, with a particular emphasis on economic governance, trade, and financial regulation. Stiglitz also served as the founding chair of the university's Committee on Global Thought, an interdisciplinary initiative addressing major global challenges.

Beyond Columbia, Stiglitz has held a series of international advisory and leadership roles. He chaired the University of Manchester's Brooks World Poverty Institute. In 2009, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the United Nations General Assembly, appointed Stiglitz as chairman of the U.N. Commission on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, where he oversaw the development of proposals for reforming global financial governance in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Stiglitz also served as chair of the international Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The commission, which included fellow Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, issued its report in 2010 under the title Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn't Add Up, arguing that gross domestic product (GDP) is an inadequate measure of societal well-being and calling for the development of broader indicators of economic and social progress.

From 2011 to 2014, Stiglitz served as president of the International Economic Association (IEA), presiding over the organization's triennial world congress held near the Dead Sea in Jordan in June 2014.

Contributions to Economic Theory

Stiglitz's scholarly output has been exceptionally prolific. His research has spanned a wide range of topics including the economics of information, public economics, industrial organization, development economics, monetary theory, and macroeconomics. According to the Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) database, he is among the most cited economists in the world.

Central to Stiglitz's theoretical contributions is the concept that information is imperfect and asymmetrically distributed in real-world markets, and that these information problems have profound consequences for economic efficiency and the distribution of income and wealth. His work demonstrated that the standard assumptions of classical economics — particularly the notion that competitive markets, left to their own devices, will produce efficient outcomes — do not hold when information is imperfect or costly to obtain. This insight, which Stiglitz developed through a body of work spanning several decades, formed the basis for his Nobel Prize in 2001, which he shared with George Akerlof and Michael Spence.

Stiglitz has also been identified with the Georgist tradition in public finance, which emphasizes the role of land and natural resource rents in economic policy and taxation. His work in this area has contributed to a broader reconsideration of the role of land taxation and rent-seeking in economic theory.

Recent Public Commentary

In recent years, Stiglitz has been an active public commentator on U.S. economic policy, particularly on issues related to trade, tariffs, and inequality. In February 2026, he warned that tariffs imposed by the U.S. government were raising inflation, hurting American jobs, and slowing economic growth, even as some headline inflation data showed cooling. He argued that no existing policy was effectively boosting blue-collar jobs in the face of ongoing automation and structural economic changes, and pointed to the decline of manufacturing employment as one of the most significant threats to the U.S. economy.

Stiglitz has also continued to write and speak on global health inequality, arguing in February 2026 that socioeconomic inequality would exacerbate the effects of future pandemics and that preparations for global health crises must address structural disparities. In November 2025, speaking at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, he urged journalists to investigate the financial systems and enablers that foster corruption worldwide, particularly within Western financial institutions.

Selected Publications

Stiglitz is the author or co-author of numerous books aimed at both academic and general audiences. Among the most notable are:

• Globalization and Its Discontents (2002) — a critique of the management of globalization and the policies of the IMF and World Bank
• The Roaring Nineties (2003) — an analysis of the U.S. economy during the 1990s
• Making Globalization Work (2006) — proposals for reforming global economic governance
• Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy (2010) — an examination of the 2008 financial crisis
• The Price of Inequality (2012) — an analysis of inequality in the United States
• Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress (2014)
• The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them (2015)
• Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity (2015)
• The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe (2016)
• People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent (2019)
• The Road to Freedom (2024)

His work has been translated into numerous languages, and his books have reached wide international readership beyond the academic economics community.

Personal Life

Stiglitz is a member of the Democratic Party. He has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Beyond his formal institutional roles, Stiglitz has been active in public discourse through regular columns, including contributions to Project Syndicate, opinion pieces in major newspapers, and frequent appearances in broadcast media. He maintains his primary professional affiliation with Columbia University in New York City.

Recognition

Stiglitz has received extensive recognition for his scholarly and public policy contributions. His most prominent honors include:

• John Bates Clark Medal (1979) — awarded by the American Economic Association to the American economist under forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. At the time, this award was given biennially and was considered one of the most prestigious honors in the field.

• Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) — shared with George Akerlof and Michael Spence for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information. Stiglitz's specific contributions recognized by the Nobel Committee included his work on screening — the process by which uninformed parties extract information from informed parties — and on the broader implications of information imperfections for market efficiency.

• In 2011, Time magazine named Stiglitz one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

• He has received honorary degrees from numerous universities around the world and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• Stiglitz is also a member of the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders, as one of its 25 leading figures.

• His research record, as tracked by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), encompasses hundreds of scholarly papers across a broad range of economic subfields.

Legacy

Stiglitz's influence on economics extends across both theory and practice. His work on information asymmetries fundamentally altered the discipline's understanding of how markets operate, demonstrating that the classical model of efficient markets breaks down when information is imperfect — a condition that characterizes virtually all real-world economic interactions. This insight has had lasting effects on fields ranging from finance and insurance to labor economics and development policy.

His public policy career — at the Council of Economic Advisers and the World Bank — translated these theoretical insights into practical critiques of prevailing policy orthodoxies. His vocal opposition to the IMF's structural adjustment programs and the Washington Consensus helped catalyze a broader re-examination of the policies recommended to developing countries by international financial institutions. His book Globalization and Its Discontents became a touchstone for the anti-globalization movement and for scholars and policymakers seeking alternatives to unfettered market liberalization.

At Columbia University, Stiglitz has trained a generation of economists and has built institutional frameworks — through the Initiative for Policy Dialogue and the Committee on Global Thought — for ongoing interdisciplinary engagement with global economic challenges. His commission work on GDP measurement and the reform of international financial systems has contributed to shifts in how policymakers conceptualize economic progress and well-being.

In his continued public commentary, including his warnings about the economic effects of tariffs and the persistence of structural inequality, Stiglitz remains one of the most prominent economists engaging with contemporary policy debates. His body of work, spanning more than five decades, encompasses fundamental contributions to economic theory, influential policy advocacy, and a sustained effort to bring economic analysis to bear on questions of social justice and institutional reform.