Home / Quotes / Quote by Joseph Stiglitz

Quote by Joseph Stiglitz

“People at the top spend less money than those at the bottom so when you have redistribution toward the top, aggregate demand goes down. Unless you intervene, you're going to have a weak economy unless something else happens. That something else could be a bubble. The United States tried a tech bubble and a housing bubble, but those were not sustainable answers. So I view inequality as a fundamental part of our macroeconomic weakness.”

Author

Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz is a renowned economist born on February 9, 1943, in the United States. He has made extensive contributions to the field of economics, particularly in the areas of development economics, globalization, and financial policy. Stiglitz served as Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the World Bank and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998. more

“There have always been two theories about inequality. One is that it reflects just deserts. The other is that there are large elements of exploitation and inequality of opportunities. The evidence is overwhelmingly that the increase in inequality is associated with those negative factors. If it were all social contribution, then when the top did better, they would be contributing to everybody's well-being. That trickle-down hasn't happened. We've seen median income, people in the middle, actually worse off than they were 25 years ago.”

People Opportunity Evidence Negative Inequality Exploitation

Author:Joseph Stiglitz

“For the United States, our political system is clearly distorted. We have gerrymandering so that there is a situation where a million more voters who vote for Democrats, yet the House is controlled by the Republicans. So clearly, the way our Congress operates is important. The other big issue is the influence of money in politics. It's not only campaign contributions. People like Trump - either you become very dependent on your benefactors or you are very rich.”

People Important Political House Situation Rich Influence Republican Vote Democrat

Author:Joseph Stiglitz

“The country that's been most successful at that is Norway. The more typical countries are those in the Middle East where a small group seizes those resources, uses it to buy arms to make sure that they can oppress the remainder, and you get these great inequalities. So Canada is among the better performing of the natural resource economies, but it's still not up to the best performing.”

Country Natural Economy Successful Inequality Performing Natural Resources

Author:Joseph Stiglitz

“Twenty per cent of American children grow up in poverty, and that means they get inadequate nutrition, inadequate health care, and because we have a very local education system, they get inadequate access to education. With those as a starting base, you perpetuate inequality. That's why, here in New York, Mayor de Blasio has made a big deal of trying to focus on preschool education, because by five years old, there are already huge differences. We've finally begun to recognize it.”

Trying Mean Children Care Poverty Growing Up Focus Inequality Health Care Nutrition Inadequate Education System Preschool

Author:Joseph Stiglitz