A Review of Globalization and Its Discontents, by Joseph E. Stiglitz: an Impairment of International Institutions’ Impartiality

One of the most pressing economic problems of our time is the objectionable direction taken by the leading regulating institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. This issue is addressed in Globalization and Its Discontents, and is thoroughly analyzed throughout the next pages. It was written by Joseph E. Stiglitz, (born February 9, 1943), an American economist and author. He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is known for his critical view of the modern management of globalization, free-market economists and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He was born in Gary, Indiana and received his PHD from MIT in 1967, became a full professor at Yale in 1970. Since then, he has taught at Princeton, Stanford, MIT and Oxford. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. In October 2008, he was asked by the President of the UN General Assembly to chair a commission and draft a report on the reasons for and solutions to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, producing, in response, the famous «Stiglitz Report». He is currently a Professor at Columbia University. His research and technique gained him recognition, making him one of the most frequently cited and influent economists. His most famous contributions include the «Screening technique» which is a method used by one economic agent to extract private information from another (this research was carried on with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael) and the Efficiency Wages («Shapiro-Stiglitz model) which explains the unemployment in equilibrium and why wages are not bid down by job seekers. Stiglitz founded one of the leading economics journals - “The Journal of Economic Perspectives” and some of his most famous publications include:

- 1998, Redefining the Role of the State (10th Anniversary, MITI Research Institute)

Cited: SACHS, Jeffrey: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Penguin Press, 2005 FRIEDMAN, Benjamin M.: Globalization: Stiglitz’s Case The New York Review of Books, 2002 PFEIFER, Karen: How Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and even Egypt became IMF success stories in the 1990s Middle East Report, 1999 MURRELL, Peter: Post Soviet Affair: what is Shock Therapy, and what did it do in Poland and Russia? Bellwether Publishing, 1993