Joseph Stiglitz Quotes

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Joseph Stiglitz

Profession : Economist

Birth : February 9, 1943

I don't think we can have democracies that work where most of the people are not benefiting economically, where most of the people are worried about their job security.

Joseph Stiglitz

The bank bailout should have been more focused on helping small and medium sized banks, on helping homeowners. I think the trade agreements are a disaster.

Joseph Stiglitz

We have a locale-based education system; we have increasing economic segregation. We clearly need a larger federal program to try to help disadvantaged districts.

Joseph Stiglitz

The reality is that what we did in 2010 with the Dodd-Frank wasn't enough.

Joseph Stiglitz

The euro zone was driven by the neoliberal view that markets are always efficient. That in itself is political. There was no pressing economic need that the euro was required to solve, but leaders believed that it would foster growth.

Joseph Stiglitz

In the end, the politics of the euro zone weren't strong enough to create a fully integrated fiscal union with a common banking system, etc.

Joseph Stiglitz

A single currency entails a fixed interest rate, which means countries can't manage their own currency to suit their own needs. You need a variety of institutions to help nations for which the policies aren't well suited. Europe introduced the euro without providing those structures.

Joseph Stiglitz

America's role in the global economy inevitably was going to diminish; we're smaller relative to - as China, India, other emerging markets grow.

Joseph Stiglitz

China-led globalization in some ways worries me because they are not concerned about human rights, labor rights. They probably aren't even really concerned about competitive marketplaces. So in some ways, they're like Mr. Trump.

Joseph Stiglitz

It isn't inevitable that we have a globalization which is used by the corporations not to pay taxes. It is not inevitable that we have a form of globalization in which corporations use the threat of moving jobs abroad to lower wages. None of this is inevitable.

Joseph Stiglitz

We could have managed globalization in ways that ordinary citizens would have benefited rather than just the corporations. Trade is beneficial. There are gains to be had from taking advantage of comparative advantage and specialization. That's true, if you manage globalization right.

Joseph Stiglitz

When you have a highly divided society, it's hard to come together to make investments in the common good.

Joseph Stiglitz

Let me put it very forcefully: No large economy has ever recovered from an economic downturn through austerity. It's not going to happen in the United States, and it's not going to happen in Europe.

Joseph Stiglitz

Some people say we have this inequality because some people have been contributing much more to our society, and so it's fair that they get more. But then you look at the people who are at the top, and you realize they're not the people who have transformed our economy, our society.

Joseph Stiglitz

One of the arguments I make for the failure of the euro is that, at the time it was being constructed, there was a 'neo-liberal' ideology which said that all we need to do to make this thing work is to get deficits low, keep inflation low, and take down barriers, and then everything would be fine.

Joseph Stiglitz

European officials thought that austerity was part of what they called their 'convergence policies,' of trying to bring countries together. Instead, it actually made things worse. There's more inequality within countries and more disparity across countries.

Joseph Stiglitz

One of the things that happens when you have austerity is that wages get lower, and some people think lower wages in the short run can increase corporate profits.

Joseph Stiglitz

There is a broad consensus, not only in the United States but in most of the world, that if you are in an economic downturn, you need to stimulate. Germany seems to be an exception.

Joseph Stiglitz

It's very clear that TPP was promoted by corporate interests, it was driven by ideology, not by economic science. And when they started looking at the net trade benefits, they are miniscule.

Joseph Stiglitz

A less healthy America is not going to be as productive.

Joseph Stiglitz