https://www.scmp.com/rss/232622/feed Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a former chief economist of the World Bank, a former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, university professor at Columbia University, and the author, most recently, of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Joseph E. Stiglitz Joseph E. Stiglitz It has become almost routine to end each year with talk of the “polycrisis”, and to acknowledge the difficulty of anticipating a future that seems pregnant with the risk of new wars, pandemics, financial crises and climate-driven devastation. Yet 2025 added a uniquely toxic ingredient to this mix: the return to the White House of US President Donald Trump, whose erratic, unlawful policies have already upended the post-war era of globalisation. Faced with so much uncertainty, can we say anything... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3336709/how-trump-hastening-end-american-hegemony?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3336709/how-trump-hastening-end-american-hegemony?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:30:08 +0000 If one event dominates the coming year, it will almost certainly be the US presidential election. Barring something unexpected, we are likely to see a rematch of Joe Biden vs Donald Trump, with the outcome being perilously uncertain. One year out, polls in key swing states give Trump the advantage. The election will matter not just for the United States but for the world. The outcome may hinge on the 2024 economic outlook, which in turn will partly depend on how the latest conflagration in the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245569/looming-biden-trump-rematch-heralds-american-age-anxiety-2024?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245569/looming-biden-trump-rematch-heralds-american-age-anxiety-2024?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Dec 2023 21:30:12 +0000 This year has felt like a roller coaster, as hopes rose and fell with pandemic statistics and shifting political winds. The new year looks much the same, except that there will be midterm elections in the US in November – the stakes of which could not be higher. Given all the uncertainty, it would be foolhardy to make predictions with any confidence. Still, I will offer my best bets. For starters, Covid-19 will be tamed, though not eradicated. Enough people will have been vaccinated in enough... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3159658/dark-clouds-us-china-conflict-and-republican-party-trickery-loom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3159658/dark-clouds-us-china-conflict-and-republican-party-trickery-loom?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Dec 2021 22:45:19 +0000 At the end of 2017, US President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans rammed through a US$1 trillion cut in corporate taxes, partly offset by tax increases for most Americans in the middle of the income distribution. But, in 2018, the US business community’s jubilation over this handout started giving way to anxiety over Trump and his policies.  A year ago, US business and financial leaders’ unbridled greed allowed them to look past their aversion to large deficits. But... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2178762/trumps-year-chaos-massive-deficit-immigration?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2178762/trumps-year-chaos-massive-deficit-immigration?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Dec 2018 18:02:12 +0000 On January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. I hate to say “I told you so”, but his election should not have come as a surprise. As I explained in my 2002 book, Globalisation and its Discontents, the policies we have used to manage globalisation have sown the seeds of disaffection. Ironically, a candidate from the party that pushed the hardest for international financial and trade integration has won by promising to undo both. But there is no going... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2057943/trumps-disruptive-effect-and-turning-point-us-and-beyond?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2057943/trumps-disruptive-effect-and-turning-point-us-and-beyond?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Dec 2016 04:36:51 +0000 In the shadow of the euro crisis and America's fiscal woes, it is easy to ignore the global economy's long-term problems. But, while we focus on immediate concerns, they continue to fester, and we overlook them at our peril. The most serious is global warming. Some suggest that, given the economic slowdown, we should put global warming on the backburner. On the contrary, retrofitting the global economy for climate change would help restore aggregate demand and growth. At the same time, the pace... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1123130/todays-economic-crisis-must-not-overshadow-long-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1123130/todays-economic-crisis-must-not-overshadow-long-term?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Most people around the world will not be able to vote in the US presidential election, even though they have a great deal at stake in the result. Overwhelmingly, non-US citizens favour Barack Obama's re-election over a victory for his challenger, Mitt Romney. There are good reasons for this. In terms of the economy, the effects of Romney's policies in creating a more unequal and divided society would not be directly felt abroad. But, in the past, for better and for worse, others have often... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075565/why-obama-win-would-benefit-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075565/why-obama-win-would-benefit-world?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 New discoveries of natural resources in several African countries raise an important question: will these windfalls be a blessing that brings prosperity and hope, or a political and economic curse, as has been the case in so many countries? On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources. They have grown more slowly, and with greater inequality - just the opposite of what one would expect. After all, taxing natural resources at high rates will not... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1008702/how-turn-resource-curse-blessing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1008702/how-turn-resource-curse-blessing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000