Rating: 
Summary: Highly readable critique of the Washington consensus
Review: I have worked for both development banks and for Wall Street, and have been heavily involved in Russia for the last ten years, and a more than interested observer in the financial crises of the emerging markets since 1991. I also have a decree in economics. I haven't read much economics since I left university, and the first think I want to point out is that this book is highly readable if you have a little economics knowledge, and has rekindled my interest in the subject. I read it on the beach, and at no point does it drag.I think that there are two main points that Stiglitz makes. The first is that standard IMF policy has tended to approach countries in financial crises with the same rather crude economics as that used on Wall Street, which leads them to think like bank managers rather than economists. If you force a country with a fiscal deficit to reduce government spending, then this will reduce aggregate demand, which will reduce government income, and make the deficit worse, inflicting more pain on the population. The reason that the IMF does this, is that it is meant to restore confidence in the markets, but once a crisis starts, foreign investors tend to bail out anyway, so all it buys you is breathing space. You should accept that the foreign investors are gone, and focus on growth. The other thing that I got from the book is the hypocrisy of the US administration, which forced policies on emerging markets, which it would not itself accept. In fact, the IMF more or less took instructions from the US Treasury during the 1990s, and certainly my sense at the time was that the actual IMF staffers were very frustrated at the policies that the US government forced them to follow. The point though, is that while the US government was battling the balanced budget amendment at home, on the reasonable grounds that it limited their freedom to manage demand, they were essentially forcing a balanced budget amendment on the emerging markets via IMF conditionalities. I remember attending a Paris Club meeting, where the Fund said that they were aware that budget deficits could be beneficial - this was never reflected in the lending policies that the Treasury forced on them. Other examples are forcing central banks to focus only on inflation, and forcing emerging markets to open their markets, while protecting US farmers from imports. The above is an oversimplification of the whole book, and others may get a lot more on other subjects, such as the political process of crisis management, and the specifics of the East Asian economies, which are less of a priority for me. When you are a specialist in a subject, you always find that non-specialist books tend to be wrong about your own subject. I certainly found plenty to disagree with in the sections on Russia, which is my special subject. However, the arguments were cogent (he is a Nobel prize winner, after all) and I found myself looking at my own subject in a new way, and it was interesting to read a broad brush view, which helped me to ignore the trees, and look at the wood. I'm reading Skidelsky's biography of Keynes, and to some extent, Stiglitz's book reads like WWJMKD (What would John Maynard Keynes do?). What this means is that Stiglitz is a virtuoso economist, and this is a set of well-known events, reinterpreted by someone who is really good at it. One criticism of the book is that I would have liked to have seen more raw data to support Stiglitz's arguments - he tends to just refer to studies supporting his argument, without showing as much data as I would have liked, but there is a decent bibliography. Another criticism is the veiled suggestion that Rubin (US Treasury secretary), Fischer (deputy head of IMF) and Summers (deputy Treasury secretary) were merely serving their masters in Wall Street, and were subsequently rewarded. This is a little ignoble, as these people were following their convictions, however wrong, and the political climate at the time supported them. But these criticisms should not detract from a really excellent book of popular economics.
Rating:
Summary: Pinstripe Whistleblower
Review: Had unwashed Seattle marchers said what Joseph Stiglitz says about the IMF, they'd be dismissed as economic illiterates. Pretty hard, however, to dismiss the World Bank's former chief economist and Nobel Laureate as hippie ignoramus. Yet his gentlemanly indictment of international outfits like IMF proves every bit as damning as the sloganeering from Seattle. Stiglitz distinguishes himself from the bean-counter pack by actually caring about what happens to people as a result of IMF policy. From eastern Europe to east Asia to Africa, he shows how havoc has generally resulted from IMF's one-size-fits-all diktats. Throughout, IMF mantra remains the same -- privatize, deregulate, open your veins to outside investors, and never mind the unrest that follows; things will work out in the end. Except they don't, at least not for the benighted populations. Countries like Maylasia, Botswana, and Poland trend upward, Stiglitz argues, not because they accepted, but because they refused IMF bail-out. In short, IMF is a flop unless it changes its ways. Oddly, all of this sounds vaguely radical, so one-sided has panacea talk about deregulation and free trade become. Yet his prescriptions for reform -- mildly Keynesian and participatory -- amount to little more than liberal alternatives to current right-wing monopoly. The dissent itself amounts to a barometer of the times. Still, I question the prognosis of IMF, et. al. as a failure. Their "crisis management", it seems to me, has worked quite well for the moneyed interests who set it up. Speculators have had a field day. If Indonesia seems a risky investment, never mind, IMF policy guarantees you'll be paid back. Like the looks of that Russian steel plant, hold on, they'll privatize, then you can cherry pick. Worried about an inflated currency (the debtor's dream), sit still, never happen on IMF's watch. Despite the lofty rhetoric surrounding them, these international outfits were never set up to level a playing field for anyone. The results for developing countries are clear even when the talk is not -- a subservient role in a new world order that insists on funneling the riches upward. This is not about promoting democratic equality among nations; its about wealth and power and making sure the funnel stays where it is, in the hands of moneyed elites. And in that crucial regard, the bankers and economists of IMF have succeeded grandly. Of course, they may have to become warmer and fuzzier as a result of books like Stiglitz's, or send rock singer Bono on a pr tour, but nothing basic will change. I salute Stiglitz for trying to be a true scientist among a pack of ideologues, but he has yet to really size up the situation.
Rating:
Summary: An important book
Review: This is an important book. Democracy today is being undermined by opaque bureaucracies serving well-connected special interest groups. Much injustice is done in pursuit of greater riches for the rich at the expense of the poor and disadvantaged. Thank you, Mr. Stiglitz! If justice, humanity and democracy are important to you, this book deserves your attention.
Rating: 
Summary: The author sold out for fame and fortune
Review: Where are the models or the statistics that support all these statements? for example, that protectionism and capital controls create wealth or that the government is a more efficient operator in many industries. These ideas are certainly different from what he writes in his textbooks. The book is also very unfair with the IMF; it might be true that the IMF is very ineffective in it's efforts to aid third world countries, but it certainly is not the source of their problems...
Rating: 
Summary: A lovely book...
Review: So Stiglitz is arrogant. Well yes, he is. There's no denying that. Way too much of the book comes down to a self-righteous "see-I-told-you-so." It's annoying. And you probably wouldn't want this man as, say, an airline seat neighbor or a father-in-law. I'm convinced this aspect goes a long ways towards explaining why so many of the reviews for the book are so negative. Yet, substantively, he makes a very good, solid, important argument, one that should not and cannot be ignored. So if you care about this sort of thing, do read it. It's engaging and understandable by anyone. And a little self-righteous. I do want to point out that most of the substantive criticisms in the other reviews seem to come from people who haven't read the book: most of them argue against straw-men, against arguments Stiglitz doesn't actually make. It's a fine subtle, nuanced analysis he gives us, you should read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Inconsistent and headline grabber
Review: Mr. Stiglitz' title makes one believe he will present some evaluation of the virtues and defects of globalization. That is the reason why I bought the book. Instead, I am bombarded by vitriol against the IMF. Although much of Mr. Stiglitz' criticism is voiced by others, his treatment is one which leaves a lot to be desired. He makes broad statements as truths without backing them up, criticizes Russia's privatization scheme and compares it to China's without even mentioning the different historical elements of each country. China was a rich nation for centuries, populated by gifted merchants and scientists, something which Russia has always lacked. Mr. Stiglitz criticizes Russia's past governments but does not mention China's Great Leap Forward or its Cultural Revolution, may be because as a past consultant to the latter, if he did, he would not be invited back in! In essence, it seems Mr. Stiglitz is suffering from an academic's clash with the realities of beaurocrasies and his book does diservice to his otherwise excellet reputation.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth Shall Set Us Free
Review: Brilliant. Penetrating. Dr. Stiglitz is to be congratulated for having the courage to reveal the truth concerning the cause, effect and consequences of the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis. Indeed, the truth is so brutal, so venal, so utterly despicable as to be rejected as mere fiction by those who would wish to continue to believe in the holy sanctity of the governing bodies of the world. But those of us who have lived through, and who have seen the suffering brought about by the forces described by Dr. Stiglitz, know otherwise.
Rating:
Summary: A hippies take on the free market...
Review: An insider's account of the ill-considered effort to make a free market of the Third World, an effort that, described here, favors the rich and robs the poor. The title's echo of Sigmund Freud is shrewd, if a little misleading, for whereas Freud's great Civilization and Its Discontents was an encompassing look at the neurosis-making qualities of Western life, Stiglitz's confines itself to the workings of but two policy-making and -effecting organizations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This he does very well. Intimately acquainted with their work-he served as an economic advisor to the Clinton administration and as the World Bank's chief economist and senior vice president-Stiglitz charges that both organizations have abandoned their original missions. "The IMF was supposed to limit itself to matters of macro-economics in dealing with a country . . . and the World Bank was supposed to be in charge of structural issues," he writes, but, with the advent of the free-market-worshipping Reagan administration, both took an activist, even imperial view that demanded that developing countries throw open their doors to capitalism. The results were often disastrous as wealth and resources flowed out of such countries and into the hands of the First World, Stiglitz writes, particularly in the case of newly democratic Russia, which, he notes sadly, "must treat what has happened as pillage of national assets, a theft for which the nation can never be recompensed." Stiglitz's prescriptions for the establishment of a truly global but more equitable economy are unabashedly Keynesian and generally convincing. They include slowing the pace of capitalist expansion until developing countries can adjust politically and socially to new financial systems, giving more and better aid to those countries, forgiving debt-and thoroughly overhauling the World Bank, IMF, and other instruments of development. Provocative, readable, and sure to earn Stiglitz persona non grata status in certain corridors of power.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong title, but an easy review to economic principles
Review: The book's title cannot be more misleading. While it is labelled "Globalization and Its Discontents", readers suppose that Mr. Stiglitz will place his argument on the evils of Globalization. However, the book is an expression of his discontents to IMF and the World Bank instead.
He undoubtedly acknowledges that Globalization is beneficial to the society overall. It "has helped hundreds of million of people attain higher standards of living, beyond what they, or most economists, thought imaginable but a short while ago." (P.248) There should not be any discontents at all. What the writer disagrees is that the governing institutions - notably the IMF - have used the wrong logic to design their rescuse packages. For example, high interest rates and insistence of balanced budgets would only deepen the recession of the countries in question. Also, decisions of these institutions are often made behind closed door and they only represent the interests of developed countries.
Mr. Stiglitz has spared no effort to discuss the problems of these organization. However, would this be a better world if IMP, the World Bank and WTO alike were not existing? Probably not.In his argument, the writer simply ignores the past prosperity and economic stability brought by these institutions.
Nevertheless, Mr. Stiglitz is still a great theorist. This book provides the readers with a quick review and analysis of important economic principles such as keynes's medicine, Coase's Theorem and Smith's invisible hand in simple language.
To reflect the core subjects of the book, Mr. Stiglitz should consider renaming it as "Mismanagement of Globalization and Its Discontents", however.
Rating:
Summary: Globalization on the high seas
Review: An inside job, this telling account of the contradictions and failures of globalization by one of its discontents, an expert student of political economy, now usually called an 'economist', is in some ways more convincing than the sloganized hysteria analyses of the various anti-globalizatin activists. The author accepts the great potential of a global economy, but is unsparing of the nearsighted policies of neo-liberals, who seem to have forgotten a man like Keynes once rescued their great toy. The sharp critique of the IMF policies is the core of the book, and written from the author's personal experience. The chapter on 'Who lost Russia?' is chilled and very convincing, and brings home the main suggestion, at least to the reviewer, that capitalism has too long enjoyed its antipodal contrast with some 'alternative economic order', such as socialism, for its argument is with itself, and the multiple alternate versions of its realization, many of which are inherently destructive. The example of Russia suggests that abstract fictions of the 'market' are not enough in practice, anymore than pounding the keys of a piano can produce music. Pirates ahoy, some sanity from the crow's nest.
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