Non-evil Economists

BusinessWeek surprised me tonight. I found a reference to an author who wasn't 100% pro-IMF/Globalization: Benjamin M. Friedman. Upon Googling up his new book The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, I discovered another economist Joseph E. Stiglitz who wrote Globalization and Its Discontents (clever allusion, eh?). I'm delightfully astonished that economics schools don't just churn out cookie-cutter priests of uber-capitalism but also freethinking researchers.

Stiglitz argues that the IMF really screwed up the third world with "recommendations" that favor creditors and ignore the poor. IMF members visit with rich leaders, not peasants, so it's not a long stretch to say they're not considering the poor's plight. There are plenty of other arguments, but I forgot them all because it's late and/or I'm lazy. Read about him here: http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/bwi-wto/wbank/stigindx.htm Hooray for smart people to tell us what to think!

I'll have to find these books sometime and regain my confidence in economics and perhaps the economy. I'm sick of feeling completely ineffectual. I want to be part of the economy to improve it, but I often feel like any contribution I make to it furthers greed and poverty.