This was a really great book. I am not too familiar with world politics and economics but this book shed some light on the way it is currently being mismanaged. The author goes further to give his advice on how the system can be improved. This book is a must-read and should be added to all high school reading lists IMO. ( )

First a pointless digression: I'm sometimes intrigued by the equivalency some posit between conservative media and (allegedly) liberal media. For example, I've heard it postulated that Rush Limbaugh somehow balances NPR, Fox News balances CNN, etc. What those claims seem to gloss over (at least to my liberal senses) is the completely different tone of the two sides. NPR may have a liberal bias, but even so it strives for a professional objectivity towards which one never finds Limbaugh even gesturing. Perhaps liberals like their bias camoflagued, cloaked in layer upon layer of well-meaning competence.

Which is a round-about way of saying your experience of reading Making Globalization Work may depend heavily on your political biases. Speaking as a liberal, this was a powerful book, even better than Stiglitz former globalization tome--much larger in scope, much more thorough in its analysis of what needs to be done, and much more satisfying in its willingness to recommend solutions to the problems it finds.

What Stiglitz has done here is survey the problems with the current globalization regime (of WTO, IMF, World Bank, etc.) and then create solutions (or the framework for solutions) in each case.

Some of these issues, such as the lack of transparency in the IMF, have been dealt with before by Stiglitz. Mostly, though, these are issues not brought up in his previous works. They include: the unfair intellectual property system, the lack of a real international reserve system, the failure of international environmental cooperation, and the debt burden of poorer countries.

Some of the solutions struck me (in my blinkered liberal worldview) as quite common sense and beneficial. For example, he suggests that debts that have been incurred by a country under a dictatorship should be forgiven. Or that the intellectual property rules should be modified so that African nations don't have to pay first-world rates for AIDS treatments.

Admittedly, some solutions struck me as so ambitious, I couldn't help but be skeptical of their likelihood of success. Is the US really ready to acknowledge its diminished power over world affairs? Will India and China really work towards a more cooperative, open system; or are they more likely to ensure their place at the table at the expense of their neighbors?

Whether or not they're likely to take place, the reforms suggested in the book make for the start of a good conversation about what needs to be done. ( )

In his sequel to his 2002 book, Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz argues globalization is failing the 80 percent of the world's population who live in developing countries and the 40 percent who live in poverty.

The Nobel Prize winner and former World Bank Chief Economist’s objection is not to globalization itself; but to how it is managed. Stiglitz argues the United States' exerts excessive influence on the system. When poor countries seek aid, this influence attaches counterproductive economic policies and lending conditions that often undermine the borrower’s sovereignty. These requirements include massive privatization, spending cuts, lower import tariffs and exposure to volatile foreign capital. Stiglitz argues these conditions are precisely what developing countries don't need when they're in dire straits.

He proposes:

1. Reform of the dependence on Treasury securities, which he argues, funds U. S. over-consumption.
2. Worldwide regulation to would restrict activities and political instabilities that harm the environment. He would provide recourse when one nation's environmental actions harm other countries and compensation for maintaining their biodiversity, especially those with rainforests that spawn drugs and sequester carbon dioxide.
3. Oversight for Western banks and multi-national corporations. He argues that today's thick corporate veil relieves employees of moral responsibility. Part of the solution, he writes, is more leeway regarding worldwide class-action suits and more enforcement of intellectual property laws.
4. A shift of responsibility. Many of the problems of globalization management lies at the feet of poor countries. They must break the bribery cycle between their governments and international companies, sell their natural resources for a fair price, spend - and save - their money wisely and learn to manage currency fluctuations.

This is a thoughtful book from a thoughtful individual. . It adds debate over the role of governments in the free market by providing insightful appraisals of NAFTA, the WTO, the Kyoto Protocol and other elements of today's globalization debate.

Penned by the Pointed Pundit
January 8, 2007
9:46:51 AM ( )

A phenomenal book, reviewing the current sad state of globalization and its worldwide impact, as well as offering solutions to truly make it work. ( )

http://malaysianatheist.blogspot.com ( )