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About
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American New Keynesian economist, public policy analyst, political activist, and University Professor at Columbia University. He served as chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997 under President Bill Clinton and as senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank from 1997 to 2000, from which he resigned in protest. Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, shared with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael Spence, for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and the John Bates Clark Medal in 1979. He is known for pioneering work in the economics of information, as well as his support for Georgist public finance theory and sharp critiques of laissez-faire economics, globalization management, and the policies of international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Born in Gary, Indiana, to Nathaniel David Stiglitz, an insurance salesman, and Charlotte Stiglitz, a schoolteacher, Stiglitz was twice married: first to Jane Hannaway in 1974 (later divorced), and then to Anya Schiffrin in 2004. He earned his B.A. from Amherst College in 1964 and Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966, also serving as a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University in 1965-1966. Stiglitz has authored numerous influential books, including 'Globalization and Its Discontents' (2002), and remains a prominent voice in economic policy debates, advocating for progressive reforms and inequality reduction. Throughout his career, he has been involved in various government advisory roles and is recognized as a non-fiction writer and science communicator, though his work has faced criticism from free-market advocates.