Books

Books : reviews

Joseph E. Stiglitz.
The Roaring Nineties: why we're paying the price for the greediest decade in history.
Penguin. 2003

His previous book revealed the shocking truth about globalization. Now, Joseph Stiglitz blows the whistle on the devastation wrought by the free market mantra in the nineties – and shows how Bush is ignoring the lessons from what happened.

Joseph E. Stiglitz.
Making Globalization Work.
Penguin. 2006

In Globalization and its Discontents Joseph Stiglitz changed the views of the public and world leaders alike by showing why globalization doesn’t work for the world’s poor. Now he shows us how it can – and must.

Here Stiglitz gives real, concrete ways to deal with third world debt, make trade fair, heal the hurt caused by economic ‘shock therapy’ and tackle global warming. He also shows how powerful organizations such as the IMF and World Bank can be made to consider everyone’s interests. Another world is possible, he argues, and is not only morally right but ultimately will benefit all of us.

Joseph E. Stiglitz.
Freefall: free markets and the sinking of the global economy: updated edn.
Penguin. 2010

When the world economy went into freefall, so too did our unquestioning faith in markets. But what happens new? Are bailouts and stern lectures enough, or do we need a rethink of our entire financial system?

This acclaimed and inspiring book, by one of the world’s leading economic thinkers, dissects the flawed ideas that led to the crisis, but also looks to the future. Drawing on his years spent shaping policy at the World Bank, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz shows why far more radical reforms are needed to avoid future crises, why the cost of recovery should be borne by the financial sector, and how we now have the opportunity to create a new global economic order.

Out of the crisis of our times, Stiglitz has written a convincing, coherent and humane account that goes to the heart of how economics and societies work.

[updated Penguin edition]

Joseph E. Stiglitz.
The Euro: and its threat to the future of Europe.
Penguin. 2016

What ails Europe? Joseph E. Stiglitz dismantles the prevailing consensus around Europe’s current predicament – arguing that economic stagnation and political fragmentation are a direct result of the Euro’s flawed birth, demolishing the champions of austerity and offering solutions that can rescue the continent from further devastation.