Thursday 24 October 2002

Challenging the Growth Gurus

A message to all those believers in Free Market Economics; YOU'RE WRONG - GET OVER IT!

We should all listen long and hard to what Joe is saying, this guy knows his shit.


BUY THIS BOOK TODAY As the chief economist of the World Bank in the late 1990's, Joseph E. Stiglitz got a firsthand look at how policy was made at its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, and he was dismayed. Decisions, he said, were made on the basis of ideology rather than sound economic reasoning.

The fund was made up of "third-rank students from first-rate universities," as he once put it. Frank discussion was discouraged, and developing countries were expected to accept fund prescriptions without question. And those prescriptions too often failed, leaving many nations sunk in poverty.

The experience convinced Mr. Stiglitz of the need to reassess the ingredients of growth. As he wrote this year in "Globalization and Its Discontents," "If the developed countries were serious about paying more attention to the voices of the developing countries, they could help fund a think tank — independent from the international economic organizations — that would help them formulate strategies and positions."

Full story...