Stability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development

by Joseph E. Stiglitz, José Antonio Ocampo, Shari Spiegel

There is growing dissatisfaction with the economic policies advocated by many international financial institutions. This book presents an alternative to "Washington Consensus" neo-liberal economic policies by showing that both macro-economic and liberalization policy must be sensitive to the particular circumstances of developing countries.

Genres: Economics

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, ForMemRS, FBA, is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, free-market economists (whom he calls "free market fundamentalists") and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), a think tank on international development based at Columbia University. Since 2001, he has been a member of the Columbia faculty, and has held the rank of University Professor since 2003. He also chairs the University of Manchester's Brooks World Poverty Institute and is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Stiglitz is also an honorary professor at Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management. Stiglitz is one of the most frequently cited economists in the world.

Reviews

[Gregg Wingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stability with Growth is not a solo work of Dr. Stiglitz but rather a group work from the Initiative for Policy Dialogue series. However, it is an intellectual expansion on Stiglitz' heterodox economics with its goal of synthesizing traditional macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. He hopes to integrate micro-foundational models with Keynesian methodologies to create more holistic and flexible stabilization policies for individual economies and their populations.

Stiglitz also illustrates how ideology based economics has deformed policy options and fostered groupthink on the leading international institutions. He discusses the dangers of capital market liberalization and cites empirical studies showing the hazards for countries utilizing inadequate controls on short-term capital and how governance organizations have failed to establish a balance between creditors and debtors in emerging markets.

The work is an overall rejection of Neo-liberalism and its subjugation of the World Bank and the IMF. It also provides a basis for policy developments in the balance between real stability and real growth versus foci on inflation and growth in GDP.

Truly a fascinating read in the Great Recession.

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stiglitz et al hacen un recuento general de las principales posiciones macroeconomicas, neoclasicas, keynesianas y un-ortodoxas ( neo keynesianas ) sobre el manejo de la macroeconomía y en particular la liberación tanto comercial como financiera.

Aboga por los controles de capitales y por la estabilidad en términos reales de crecimiento y empleo y no solo de precios, mostrando como la primera tiene mayor relación con el crecimiento mientras que la segunda es mucho menos importante.

Un libro muy recomendable para entender algunos de los debates aun vivos entre académicos y tomadores de decisiones de política pública.