J.E Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner in economics, published his latest book in 2024, entitled The Roads of Freedom. Economics and Good Society, which has just been translated into French. In it, he traces his “intellectual journey over the last half-century”, which has been marked by multiple theoretical currents, economic crises and social events. In his book, the author analyzes the economic systems implemented in several countries and internationally, according to the type of risk they pose to markets and their main actors: businesses, citizen-consumers and public institutions. He supports systems that ensure a “balance between economic and political freedoms”. He distinguishes several types of freedoms: “to work, to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor, to own property and manage it, to participate in a free market, but also, to be free from want and fear”. He shows the complexity of the concept of freedom, whose determinants, inherited from the history of each nation-state, are more or less compatible. J.E. Stiglitz deals with the issue of freedom through a discourse analysis – or “rhetoric” – and the actions of the main actors of economic and social life, including governments and the media. Freedom has an “intrinsic link with the notions of equity, justice and well-being.” Its enjoyment is directly conditioned by the dominant economic system in the country. The exercise of these freedoms should contribute to “the development and realization of the potential” of citizens.
The author is thus led to analyze the different forms of capitalism, and especially that of neoliberal capitalism – which he calls “unfettered” – inspired by Hayek and Friedman and became dominant in the late 1970s. According to Stiglitz, this system is based on a deliberate underestimation of its externalities and on the mistaken belief in a strong efficiency of economic, monetary and financial markets. He focuses his analysis on the system applied in the United States, which he recognizes the strengths – including dynamism and flexibility – but denounces the weaknesses, mainly economic instability and social insecurity. He denounces the biases of measurement systems of economic exchanges and social inequalities, which contribute to “shrinking the societal well-being”.
J.E. Stiglitz therefore proposes to “rebuild the global economic and legal system”. He rejects international capitalism in its present form, preferring a more balanced form of capitalism oriented towards a “shared societal prosperity”. As a good neo-Keynesian, he advocates a new form of “progressive capitalism” coupled with a “social democracy” based on “knowledge – innovation and living together – and on a decentralized economy regulated by institutions adapted to the management of the common good”. Among the exemplary social actors, he cites some major American universities, cooperative associations, etc., but he castigates the current excesses of the policies of certain rulers. He is also critical of some press, whose “misinformation and disinformation” maintain divisions and populism.
In his book, J.E. Stiglitz refers to the work of the most recognized economists, with whom he has cooperated or opposed. He often refers to the thinking of Adam Smith, as set out in his Theory of Moral Sentiments.
J.E. Stiglitz (Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001) was chief economist of the World Bank. He is the author of numerous books and scientific articles, as well as several official reports, including in 2008, the one on the change of instruments for measuring French growth (jointly with Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul Fitoussi.
review by JJ Pluchart