Globalization and its discontents is a book of remarkable insight. The author draws
upon his experiences as chief economist at the World Bank to explain major events in the
global economy of the 1990s. The primary episodes that this book analyzes are the Asian
Crisis and Russia’s post Soviet reforms. Empirical analysis by economists typically relies on
formal statistics. Professor Stiglitz avoids this in his book, and much to his credit. Written
history helps fill out the empirical record and enhances our understanding of economic
processes. The author took full advantage of his position to write about important changes
in the global economy.
Professor Stiglitz also has much to say about how political factors affected policy at the
IMF, US Treasury, and the World Trade Organization. He claims (p XIII) that ideology and
bad economics thinly veiled the actions of special interests. Private interests lobbied
successfully for alleged privatization and liberalization,......
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