People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent

by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Overview

A Nobel prize winner challenges us to throw off the free market fundamentalists and reclaim our economy.

We all have the sense that the American economy—and its government—tilts toward big business, but as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains in his new book, People, Power, and Profits, the situation is dire. A few corporations have come to dominate entire sectors of the economy, contributing to skyrocketing inequality and slow growth. This is how the financial industry has managed to write its own regulations, tech companies have accumulated reams of personal data with little oversight, and our government has negotiated trade deals that fail to represent the best interests of workers. Too many have made their wealth through exploitation of others rather than through wealth creation. If something isn’t done, new technologies may make matters worse, increasing inequality and unemployment.

Stiglitz identifies the true sources of wealth and of increases in standards of living, based on learning, advances in science and technology, and the rule of law. He shows that the assault on the judiciary, universities, and the media undermines the very institutions that have long been the foundation of America’s economic might and its democracy.

Helpless though we may feel today, we are far from powerless. In fact, the economic solutions are often quite clear. We need to exploit the benefits of markets while taming their excesses, making sure that markets work for us—the U.S. citizens—and not the other way around. If enough citizens rally behind the agenda for change outlined in this book, it may not be too late to create a progressive capitalism that will recreate a shared prosperity. Stiglitz shows how a middle-class life can once again be attainable by all.

An authoritative account of the predictable dangers of free market fundamentalism and the foundations of progressive capitalism, People, Power, and Profits shows us an America in crisis, but also lights a path through this challenging time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324004219
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/23/2019
Pages:	366
Sales rank:	1,064,186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize–winning economist and the best-selling author of People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent; Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Age of Trump; The Price of Inequality; and Freefall. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, chief economist of the World Bank, named by Time as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world, and now teaches at Columbia University and is chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Part I Losing the Way

1 Introduction 3

2 Toward a More Dismal Economy 32

3 Exploitation and Market Power 47

4 America at War with Itself over Globalization 79

5 Finance and the American Crisis 101

6 The Challenge of New Technologies 117

7 Why Government? 138

Part II Reconstructing American Politics and Economics: The Way Forward

8 Restoring Democracy 159

9 Restoring a Dynamic Economy with Jobs and Opportunity for All 179

10 A Decent Life for All 209

11 Reclaiming America 222

Acknowledgments 249

Notes 257

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

One of his book's comparative advantages is that while Stiglitz has impeccable economic credentials, he also recognizes some of his profession's blind spots…He also excels at swatting away bromides about the miracles of markets and the failures of governments…The policy shop of every 2020 Democratic candidate for president would be wise to pore over People, Power, and Profits and cherry-pick its best ideas.

The New York Times Book Review - Daniel W. Drezner

2019-03-17
The renowned economist builds on his already extensive writings in the hope that policymakers will see the wisdom of altering both political and financial practices to restore the middle class in the United States.

Though Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz (International and Public Affairs/Columbia Univ.; The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe, 2016, etc.) has unquestionably earned the prestige to be heard on nearly any issue related to the economy, he concedes that the cataclysmic changes he proposes would probably never derive from the current Republican Party and might never occur if the Democratic Party controls the White House and Congress. Regardless, the author rarely wallows in pessimism as he presents his extensive platform in language that will be accessible to most general readers. Stiglitz sets the stage for his approachable narrative by recalling his childhood in a healthy industrial city (Gary, Indiana) and how, when he returned to Gary for his 55th high school reunion, the healthy economy had been tainted by a combination of political and economic policies benefitting the ultrawealthy. Those conditions led to massive income inequality, one of the most significant issues facing the country today. Stiglitz pinpoints the causes as a toxic stew of too-big-to-fail banks placing greed above economic growth, government initiatives favoring globalization without protecting American laborers, lack of recognition by both government and the private sector that shifts from a manufacturing economy to a service economy require a new paradigm, and the lack of effective responses to obviously increasing income inequality. In the second part of the book, the author offers a massive platform for change that must be preceded by voters choosing candidates for Congress and the White House who are willing to cast aside the hegemony of the ultrawealthy. As he writes, "achieving greater equality is not just a matter of morals or good economics; it is a matter of the survival of our democracy."

A lucid book grounded in vast knowledge—and equally vast idealism.

Kirkus Reviews

"Along with Krugman and Thomas Piketty, Stiglitz forms a triumvirate of leading economic critics of global capitalism, 21st century-style."

Guardian - Andrew Anthony

"[Joseph Stiglitz] is an insanely great economist."

Paul Krugman

"The policy shop of every 2020 Democratic candidate for president would be wise to pore over People, Power, and Profits and cherry-pick its best ideas."

New York Times