Archive for Joseph Stiglitz

SIPA Event At A Glance: “U.S. Election 2016: What’s Next Now?”

After the election in November, SIPA began organizing various activities and events to address post-election issues and concerns. On November 29, 2016, SIPA held a high-level panel at Columbia Club in midtown, called “U.S. 2016 Election: What’s Next Now?”.

The panel was moderated by Merit E. Janow, Dean of SIPA, and featured seven panelists who are top experts in their field of studies, including economics, political science, war and peace studies, energy and environment policy, and urban planning. During the discussion, panelists shared their views on the significant domestic and international challenges that the new administration will face, from a deeply-divided nation and uncertainty around the policies to future foreign policy and international relations.

David Rothkopf, Visiting Professor of International and Public Affairs, first shared his opinion about President-Elect Trump’s strategy in foreign affairs. He pointed out that Trump’s potential policy is likely to shift the United States into a unilateralism, which might jeopardize the traditional transatlantic partnership. Professor Richard K. Betts put it that President-Elect Trump’s foreign policies could be hard to predict, and he shared his opinions on the future relation between US and Russia.

When it comes to the domestic policy, University Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate and former chief economist of the World Bank, briefly analyzed Trump’s tax cut and infrastructure plan. He pointed out that to stimulate the economy with massive infrastructure construction could raise the cost of capital and may cause negative effects on the economy. Professor Richard Clarida shared his views on the post-election market reactions and the potential effect of the combination of tight monetary policy and loose fiscal policy.

Professor Ester Fuchs discussed the potential policies related with women, such as affordable birth control, abortion right, children care, and paid family leave. Michael Nutter, Professor of Professional Practice in Urban and Public Affairs, who was also the mayor of Philadelphia, expressed concerns on how President-Elect Trump is going to develop proper urban planning policies. While Professor Steven Cohen, Executive Director of Columbia University Earth Institute, discussed the future challenges in energy and environmental policy.

Around 70 people participated in the event, including SIPA faculty members, current students, alumni, prospective students, and journalists from major media companies. After the one-hour panel discussion, panelists responded to questions from the audience, covering terrorism, enterprise zone, and incoming elections in Europe, etc. Panelists then encouraged SIPA students and alumni to actively engage in studying and shaping the future of public policy.

[Photo by Weiming Shu | Left to right: Richard Clarida, C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and Professor of International and Public; Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor and Nobel Laureate; Ester Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science; Michael Nutter, David N. Dinkins Professor of Professional Practice in Urban and Public Affairs; Merit E. Janow, Dean of SIPA; Steven Cohen, Executive Director, Columbia University Earth Institute and Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs; Richard K. Betts, Leo A. Shifrin Professor of War and Peace Studies and Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies; David Rothkopf, Visiting Professor of International and Public Affairs]

 

 

Panelists consider income inequality, media, and 2016 election

Joseph Stiglitz, Patricia Cohen, and Michael Massing examine how concerns about inequality gained media spotlight

“The 1 percent has been a really useful framing device,” said economics reporter Patricia Cohen of the New York Times, “but I think it’s more a question now of the 0.01 percent or 0.001 percent, in terms of that concentration of wealth.”

Cohen was speaking at a February 23 event on “Income Inequality, the Media, and the 2016 Presidential Election.” She and fellow panelists Joseph Stiglitz, the SIPA professor and Nobel Laureate, and Michael Massing, author and contributor to the New York Review of Books, discussed the role that the media has played in giving inequality its current cultural moment.

Stiglitz cited a study put out by Oxfam that he called a very “cogent image” of the economic inequality the world faces today: a bus of around 60 attendees at the Davos World Economic Forum contained as much wealth as the poorest 3 billion citizens in the world. But while the media ultimately “did play a role” in highlighting inequality, he said, “reality also played a role.”

Watch the entire program here

Stiglitz explained that median income in the United States is now lower than it was 25 years ago, and real wages are lower than they were 60 years ago. He called these “astounding numbers for a country that claims to be having economic progress.”

Event moderator Anya Schiffrin, director of the International Media, Advocacy, and Communications Specialization at SIPA, reminded the audience that while income inequality might in fact be having such a cultural moment, there is a long tradition of waxing and waning public interest in the subject across decades. She brought up the example of Huey Long and Father Coughlin, two well-known agitators against income inequality during the 1930s, as the “historic roots of what we’re seeing today.”

Panelists also connected the media and the public’s fixation on inequality with the rise of populist candidates in the 2016 presidential election. Massing said that while polls were helpful, he wanted reporters to dig deeper to provided a more nuanced understanding of why Americans support candidates such as Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders. “The press, with each election,” he said, “is more and more in the dark.”

This event was hosted by SIPA’s United States regional specialization, the Urban and Social Policy concentration, and the International Media, Advocacy, and Communications Specialization.

— Lindsay Fuller MPA ’16

Pictured (from left): Anya Schiffrin, Patricia Cohen, Michael Massing, Joseph Stiglitz

Wish I had known

Congratulations! If you’re reading this you are almost ready to start your SIPA adventure! (And I ,God-willing, have a high paying job recruiting and training women in American politics.) This is not going to be one of those graduation-speech type posts where I talk in general terms about life advice I wish I had two years ago. (Take risks! Follow your passion! Put potato chips in a sandwich!)  These are five pieces of practical advice for SIPA navigation, the blunt truth tips that would have made my experience slightly smoother sailing.

 

1) Make sure the University has your immunization records before you get here.  I spent my first registration period freaking out because there was a hold that kept me from signing up for classes.  It turned out I, and a lot of my classmates, had not updated our immunizations and the university had placed a hold on our accounts.  It took an extra 36 hours before I could sort it out and get registered. Don’t let it happen to you!

2) Buy your books on Amazon, from 2nd Years, or not at all.  Two of my professors this year didn’t even bother ordering books through the bookstore because books are so much more expensive there. You can find almost all the books you are assigned in class used on the Internet. In addition a lot of second years will wind up selling their used books especially for popular classes. Finally before you go out and pay for a book, take a look at how often it appears on your reading list. Some professors assign only one or two chapters per semester out of a 900-page tome. If this is the case you might be better off sucking it up and borrowing the book from the library or sharing it with a classmate.  I have even found excerpts I needed to read for class available for free on the Internet.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying, “don’t do the reading” (this isn’t undergrad), I’m just saying do it for free.

3) Makes your classes what you want them to be about. One of the things I really love about SIPA is the flexibility of the curriculum. That said, there will still be classes you are required to take for the core or your concentration, or just that you want to have on your resume that are not exactly your cup of tea.  In most classes that require a final paper or project, your professor will be fairly flexible in allowing you to choose your topic.  Even if it deviates slightly from the suggested topics on the syllabus, if you can make a case for why it is relevant to the course, your Professor is likely to allow you to write it.  Professors want you to be interested in your work and they don’t want to read 30 of the same thing anyway.  This semester I wrote three different papers on gender quotas in legislatures for three very different classes. I still had to do original research for each but it allowed me to delve in and really become an expert on the topic.

4) Always show up for the class, even if it’s full.  If you are really passionate about taking something don’t take “course is full” for an answer.  A lot of Professors will make an exception and people are likely to drop out on the first day anyway. If you’re there, you’re the one who gets to take their spot. Even if you can’t make it in the course that semester, you’ll be able to make a connection with the professor and s/he is all but guaranteed to give you preference next time.

5) This is who Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz are. My Admitted Students Day everyone was freaking out about Jeff Sachs speaking at the plenary session and I was like “who?” Sachs and Stiglitz are two big name Professors and their names get bandied about a lot especially in the first two weeks of school.  I was able to take classes with equally accomplished and notable faculty in subjects in which I was interested, but still it will help you to know who these two are.

According to Wikipedia:

Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, and is a former member, and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.[1][2] He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, free-market economists (whom he calls “free market fundamentalists“), and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Jeffrey Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University. He has been known for his work on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, debt cancellation, and globalization He is Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger.

 

You’re Welcome!

Nancy

 

Summer Reading

You will find many distinguished authors among the SIPA faculty.  Here are just a few books written by SIPA professors.  Many of these Professors have written several books, but I just wanted to give you a taste of the breadth of scholarship here at the SIP.  (All book descriptions are abridged from Amazon.com)

Richard K. Betts is the Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies in the political science department, Director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, and Director of the International Security Policy program in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He was Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations for four years and is now an adjunct Senior Fellow there.

Book Description: Combining academic research with personal experience, Betts outlines strategies for better intelligence gathering and assessment. He describes how fixing one malfunction can create another; in what ways expertise can be both a vital tool and a source of error and misjudgment; the pitfalls of always striving for accuracy in intelligence, which in some cases can render it worthless; the danger, though unavoidable, of “politicizing” intelligence; and the issue of secrecy—when it is excessive, when it is insufficient, and how limiting privacy can in fact protect civil liberties.

 

Kenneth Prewitt is the Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs and the Vice-President for Global Centers. He taught Political Science at the University of Chicago from 1965-1982, and for shorter stints was on the faculty of Stanford University, Washington University, the University of Nairobi, Makerere University and the Graduate Faculty at the New School University (where he was also Dean). Prewitt’s professional career also includes, Director of the United States Census Bureau.

He is currently completing Counting the Races of America: Do We Still Need To? Do We Still Want To?  (Nancy’s note: He has not published this one yet. I included this because I contributed some research for it.  We’ll see if it actually makes it in! If you have the chance, definitely take a class with Prof. Prewitt.)

Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia and Co-Chair of the University’s Committee on Global Thought. He is also the co-founder and co-president of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia.In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2011, Time named Stiglitz one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Book Description: America currently has the most inequality, and the least equality of opportunity, among the advanced countries. While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces. In this best-selling book, Stiglitz exposes the efforts of well-heeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice. Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete program to achieve that vision.

Merit E. Janow Merit E. Janow is an internationally recognized expert in international trade and investment, with extensive experience in academia, government, international organizations and business and incoming SIPA Dean.  For the past 18 years, Merit E. Janow has been a Professor of Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and affiliated faculty at Columbia Law School. Currently she is Director of the International Finance and Economic Policy concentration at SIPA, Co-Director of the APEC Study Center, and Chair of the Faculty Oversight Committee of Columbia’s Global Center East Asia. Previously, she was Director of the Masters Program in International Affairs and Chair of Columbia University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. While at Columbia University, Professor Janow was elected in December 2003 for a four year term as one of the seven Members of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body, which is the court of final appeal for adjudicating trade disputes between the 153 member nations of the WTO.

From 1997 to 2000, Professor Janow served as the Executive Director of the first international antitrust advisory committee of the U.S. Department of Justice that reported to the Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust.

Book Description: This volume brings together essays by world-renown leaders in the field of international trade examining the operation of the WTO and its dispute settlement system. The experts who have contributed to this book include policy makers, scholars, lawyers and diplomats. Two major areas of inquiry are undertaken. The first half of this volume examines the governance and operation of the WTO and the international trading system. It pays particular attention to issues that affect developing country Members of the WTO. The second half of this volume contains a detailed examination of the performance, operation, and challenges of the WTO’s dispute settlement system.

Dipali Mukhopadhyay joined the SIPA faculty as an assistant professor in July 2012.  She studies modern state formation in conflict and post-conflict settings.  Her research interests lie, in particular, with the challenges weak political centers face as they attempt to grow their authority in the midst of formidable competitors. She is currently finishing a forthcoming book manuscript with Cambridge University Press entitled Warlords, Strongman Governors and State Building in Afghanistan.  She has been conducting research in eastern and northern Afghanistan, as well as Kabul, since 2007 and made her first trip to the country  for a project with the Aga Khan Development Network in 2004. Her book, Warlords As Bureaucrats, is forthcoming

 

Book Description: Afghanistan’s weak central government and limited resources make the informal networks employed by local warlords a viable option for governance. The country’s former warlords, made powerful governors by President Hamid Karzai, use both formal and informal powers to achieve security objectives and deliver development in their provinces. Based on substantial in-country research and interviews, Dipali Mukhopadhyay examines the performance of two such governors, Atta Mohammed Noor and Gul Agha Sherzai, who govern the northern province of Balkh, and the eastern province of Nangarhar, respectively.

Ester R. Fuchs is Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science and Director of the Urban and Social Policy Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.  She served as Special Advisor to the Mayor for Governance and Strategic Planning under New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2001 to 2005. Prof. Fuchs was chair of the Urban Studies Program at Barnard and Columbia Colleges and founding director of the Columbia University Center for Urban Research and Policy.  Prof. Fuchs recently received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Queens College; Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Award for Outstanding Teaching; and NYC’s Excellence in Technology Award for Best IT Collaboration among Agencies for Access New York.

 

Book Description: Chicago and New York share similar backgrounds but have had strikingly different fates. Tracing their fortunes from the 1930s to the present day, Ester R. Fuchs examines key policy decisions which have influenced the political structures of these cities and guided them into, or clear of, periods of economic crisis.

Lincoln Mitchell is an Associate at the Harriman Institute and an Affiliate at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.  Prior to joining the Harriman Institute, Mitchell was Arnold A. Saltzman Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Politics at Columbia University.  In addition to serving as Chief of Party for the National Democratic Institute in Georgia from 2002-2004, he has worked on political development issues in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.  Mitchell also worked for years as a political consultant in New York City advising and managing domestic political campaigns.

 

Book Description: In November of 2003, a stolen election in the former Soviet republic of Georgia led to protests and the eventual resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze. Shevardnadze was replaced by a democratically elected government led by President Mikheil Saakashvili, who pledged to rebuild Georgia, orient it toward the West, and develop a European-style democracy. Known as the Rose Revolution, this early twenty-first-century democratic movement was only one of the so-called color revolutions (Orange in Ukraine, Tulip in Kyrgyzstan, and Cedar in Lebanon). What made democratic revolution in Georgia thrive when so many similar movements in the early part of the decade dissolved?

 

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, and is director of the Millennium Villages Project. Sachs is also one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates, and a Commissioner of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Development.

 Book Description: The last great campaign of John F. Kennedy’s life was not the battle for reelection he did not live to wage, but the struggle for a sustainable peace with the Soviet Union. To Move the World recalls the extraordinary days from October 1962 to September 1963, when JFK marshaled the power of oratory and his remarkable political skills to establish more peaceful relations with the Soviet Union and a dramatic slowdown in the proliferation of nuclear arms.Jeffrey D. Sachs shows how Kennedy emerged from the Missile crisis with the determination and prodigious skills to forge a new and less threatening direction for the world. Together, he and Khrushchev would pull the world away from the nuclear precipice, charting a path for future peacemakers to follow.

Liza Featherstone is the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart (Basic Books, 2004), which was praised by publications ranging from the New York Review of Books to Bitch magazine. Since that book’s publication, she has continued to write about Wal-Mart’s employment practices.  Featherstone is also a co-author of Students Against Sweatshops (Verso, 2002).She has been a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economic Journalism at Columbia University, as well as a Hoover Institution Media Fellow.Featherstone, has written for Slate, Salon, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Babble, Newsday, The San Francisco Chronicle, The American Prospect, CNN.com, New Labor Forum and many other publications.  She is best known for her work in The Nation magazine, where she is a contributing writer.

 

Book Description: In 2000, Betty Dukes, a fifty-two-year-old black woman in Pittsburg, California, became the lead plaintiff in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, a class action, representing 1.6 million women. In her explosive investigation of this historic lawsuit, journalist Liza Featherstone reveals how Wal-Mart, a self-styled “family-oriented,” Christian company: Deprives women (but not men) of the training they need to advance. Relegates women to lower-paying jobs like selling baby clothes, reserving the more lucrative positions for men. Inflicts punitive demotions on employees who object to discrimination. Exploits Asian women in its sweatshops in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth. Featherstone goes on to reveal the creative solutions that Wal-Mart workers around the country have found, like fighting for unions, living-wage ordinances, and childcare options.

Steven Cohen is the Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science. Dr. Cohen served as a policy analyst in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1977 through 1978 and 1980-81, and as consultant to the agency from 1981 through 1991, from 1994 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2010. From 2001 to 2004, he served on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology. He serves on the Board of Directors of Homes for the Homeless.

Book Description: Can we grow our world economy and create opportunities for the poor while keeping the planet intact? Can we maintain our vibrant, dynamic lifestyles while ensuring the Earth stays productive and viable? Aimed at managers, students, scholars, and policymakers, Sustainability Management answers these questions in the affirmative, arguing it is possible for environmentally sustainable business practices and policies to foster economic and long-term growth.

 

 

 

 

TEDx Columbia SIPA = cool

TEDxColumbiaSIPA is a locally-organized, student-led event designed to spark authentic, impassioned, and open-minded dialogue in our community.  Drawing from both TEDx’s mission of “Ideas Worth Spreading” and SIPA’s focus on addressing challenges around the globe, the event will be organized under the theme of “A Better World.”

TEDxColumbiaSIPA will be held on Friday, February 15th, 2013 at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in New York City.  Speakers include Joel Klein, VP, NewsCorp & former Chancellor of NYC Dept. of Education, Leila Makarechi, COO, MicroClinic International & SIPA alumna, Yvonne Macpherson, Executive Director, BBC Media Action USA, Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia University & Nobel Prize- winning Economist, Adam Scher, Captain, US Army & current SIPA student, Andrew Rasiej, Founder, Personal Democracy Forum, Paul Krugman, Professor at Princeton University & Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Victor Casanova & Michael Craft, filmmakers, Route2Happiness & SIPA alumni, PigPen Theatre Co., award-winning actors and musicians, and many more…

Unfortunately, the event is sold out — to be expected with fascinating topics and a high-level roster of speakers… But the good news is that the event will be live-streamed so you can catch it online in your pajamas at: http://new.livestream.com/tedx/tedxcolumbiasipa 

 

"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

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