Joseph Stiglitz quotes

Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist and professor, recognized for his pioneering work on information asymmetry and market imperfections. Winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, his research has profoundly influenced modern economic theory and policy. He continues to be an outspoken critic of economic inequality and a prominent advocate for social justice reforms. Here are 89 of his quotes:

If stability and efficiency required that there existed markets that extended infinitely far into the future - and these markets clearly did not exist - what assurance do we have of the stability and efficiency of the capitalist system?

Joseph Stiglitz

In debate, one randomly was assigned to one side or the other. This had at least one virtue - it made one see that there was more than one side to these complex issues.

Joseph Stiglitz

An early insight in my work on the economics of information concerned the problem of appropriability - the difficulty that those who pay for information have in getting returns.

Joseph Stiglitz

The reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there.

Joseph Stiglitz

The fall of Wall Street is for market fundamentalism what the fall of the Berlin Wall was for communism.

Joseph Stiglitz

The notion that every well educated person would have a mastery of at least the basic elements of the humanities, sciences, and social sciences is a far cry from the specialized education that most students today receive, particularly in the research universities.

Joseph Stiglitz

Seeing an economy that is, in many ways, quite different from the one grows up in, helps crystallize issues: in one's own environment, one takes too much for granted, without asking why things are the way they are.

Joseph Stiglitz

It's actually a tribute to the quality of economics teaching that they have persuaded so many generations of students to believe in so much that seems so counter to what the world is like. Many of the things that I'm going to describe make so much more common sense than these notions that seem counter to what ones eyes see every day.

Joseph Stiglitz

Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently.

Joseph Stiglitz

Development is about transforming the lives of people, not just transforming economies.

Joseph Stiglitz

Rather than justice for all, we are evolving into a system of justice for those who can afford it. We have banks that are not only too big to fail, but too big to be held accountable.

Joseph Stiglitz

My teachers helped guide and motivate me; but the responsibility of learning was left with me.

Joseph Stiglitz

Most poor people earn more than minimum wage when they are working; their problem is not low wages. The problem comes when they are not working.

Joseph Stiglitz

I recognized that information was, in many respects, like a public good, and it was this insight that made it clear to me that it was unlikely that the private market would provide efficient resource allocations whenever information was endogenous.

Joseph Stiglitz

They [free market policies] were never based on solid empirical and theoretical foundations, and even as many of these policies were being pushed, academic economists were explaining the limitations of markets - for instance, whenever information is imperfect, which is to say always.

Joseph Stiglitz

The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn't seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late.

Joseph Stiglitz

Intellectual property does not really belong in a trade agreement.

Joseph Stiglitz

In the long run, the most important changes required to make globalization work are reforms to reduce the democratic deficit.

Joseph Stiglitz

International lending banks need to focus on areas where private investment doesn't go, such as infrastructure projects, education and poverty relief.

Joseph Stiglitz

I grew up in a family in which political issues were often discussed, and debated intensely.

Joseph Stiglitz

When you have a highly divided society, it's hard to come together to make investments in the common good.

Joseph Stiglitz

There is a broad consensus, not only in the United States but in most of the world, that if you are in an economic downturn, you need to stimulate. Germany seems to be an exception.

Joseph Stiglitz