ИПИ Библиотека

At the center of our country's political life are some basic economic questions: How does the government affect the economy? What should the government do? Why are some economic activities undertaken in the public sector and others in the private? Should government do more than it is currently doing, or less? Should it change what it is doing, and how it is doing it? To answer these questions, we must begin by understanding what the government does today. How had the government grown over the past fifty years? How do the size and scope of government in the United States compare with government's size and scope in other countries? This new edition of the acclaimed textbook by leading economic Joseph W. Stiglitz is the definitive text for studying public sector economics.

“While market failures led to the major government programs of the 1930s and 1960s, in the 1970s the shortcomings of the programs led economists and political scientists to investigate government failure. Under what conditions would government programs not work well? Were the failures of government programs mere accidents, or were they predictable results, following from the inherent nature of governmental activity? Are there the lessons to be learned for the design of programs in the future?”

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Internationally recognized as one of the leading economists of his generation, Joseph W. Stiglitz (born 1943) is the Joan Kennedy professor of economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute. During his recent leave from Stanford, Professor Stiglitz served as chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and then as chief economist at the World Bank. He has also served on the faculties of Yale, Princeton, and Oxford. Professor Stiglitz received his BA from Amherst College and his Ph.D. from MIT.