Friday, 02-26-2010

Reception with Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist

Join the World Affairs Council for a special opportunity to attend a reception with Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz.

All guests will receive a signed copy of Stiglitz’s new book, “Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy,” a chance to meet Joseph Stiglitz, and preferred seating at the public lecture being held by the University Book Store and Town Hall immediately following the reception.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning Economist and Professor. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is now a University Professor at Columbia University in New York and Chair of Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought. He is also the co-founder and Executive Director of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia.

Stiglitz was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, during the Clinton administration, and served as CEA chairman from 1995-97. He then became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000. In 2008, he was appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to chair a Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Economic Progress. His work has helped explain the circumstances in which markets do not work well, and how selective government intervention can improve their performance. He founded one of the world’s leading economics journals, The Journal of Economic Perspectives and is recognized around the world as a leading economic educator.

A graduate of Amherst College, he received his PhD from MIT in 1967, became a full professor at Yale in 1970, and in 1979 was awarded the John Bates Clark Award, given biennially by the American Economic Association to the economist under 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the field.


The World Affairs Council is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which provides a forum for speakers representing diverse points of view. The opinions expressed by any and all speakers, presenters and/or guests at Council events are those of the speaker alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the World Affairs Council members, staff, Board of Trustees, or Advisory Council.