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Posts Tagged ‘joseph stiglitz’

Stiglitz on the Singapore Miracle

Joseph Stiglitz writes an economic valentine to Singapore that is full of interesting facts and conclusions. In a nutshell: for the past few decades, Singapore has pursued a strong economy that is also concerned with equality from top to bottom. The piece is interesting throughout, especially for anyone whose mind still summons the words “chewing gum” as soon as the word Singapore appears. The piece is hard to excerpt — you should read the whole thing — because there are so many discrete points. But here are a few samples:

Singapore has had the distinction of having prioritized social and economic equity while achieving very high rates of growth over the past 30 years — an example par excellence that inequality is not just a matter of social justice but of economic performance. Societies with fewer economic disparities perform better — not just for those at the bottom or the middle, but over all.

And:

The government mandated that individuals save into a “provident fund” — 36 percent of the wages of young workers — to be used to pay for adequate health care, housing and retirement benefits. It provided universal education, sent some of its best students abroad, and did what it could to make sure they returned. (Some of my brightest students came from Singapore.)


Disillusionment in the Developing World

Joseph Stiglitz reflects on the consequences of the economic crisis for market economies and democracy in developing countries, where the jury is still out on these institutions. “Many countries may conclude not simply that unfettered capitalism, American-style, has failed,” he writes, “but that the very concept of a market economy has failed, and is indeed unworkable under any circumstances.” [%comments]


Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Economists’ Version

Justin Lahart at the Wall Street Journal suggests a new party game for economists (or at least something to keep you awake if a conference gets dull): Six Degrees of Joe Stiglitz. He’s suggesting the econ version of the Paul Erdos number in math: If you drew a diagram linking different mathematicians, many of the lines would cross at Erdos. . . .