Summary of Joseph E. Stiglitz's People, Power, and Profits

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The United States has a very small elite that controls an increasing share of the economy, and a large and increasing bottom that has almost no resources. The three richest Americans are worth more than the bottom half of the US population combined.

#2 The sources of America’s wealth are the productivity, creativity, and vitality of its people, the advances of science and technology, and the rule of law. These have been the basis of the country’s increases in standards of living over the past two centuries.

#3 We must understand the power of the ideas and interests that have taken us so far off course for the past four decades. We can’t simply describe the economic and political trajectory that our society has taken; we must understand why it has failed us.

#4 The true wealth of a nation is measured by its capacity to deliver high standards of living for all its citizens. This is done through sustained productivity increases, based partly on investments in plants and equipment, but most importantly, in knowledge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669366553

IRB Media

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Insights on Joseph E. Stiglitz's People, Power, and Profits

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The United States has a very small elite that controls an increasing share of the economy, and a large and increasing bottom that has almost no resources. The three richest Americans are worth more than the bottom half of the US population combined.

#2

The sources of America’s wealth are the productivity, creativity, and vitality of its people, the advances of science and technology, and the rule of law. These have been the basis of the country’s increases in standards of living over the past two centuries.

#3

We must understand the power of the ideas and interests that have taken us so far off course for the past four decades. We can’t simply describe the economic and political trajectory that our society has taken; we must understand why it has failed us.

#4

The true wealth of a nation is measured by its capacity to deliver high standards of living for all its citizens. This is done through sustained productivity increases, based partly on investments in plants and equipment, but most importantly, in knowledge.

#5

The questioning of authority led to a new epistemology, which governed all aspects of life aside from the spiritual world. With systems of good governance in place, it is more likely that good and fair decisions are made.

#6

The advances in technology and science, as well as changes in social, political, and economic organization associated with the Enlightenment, led to output increases that outpaced increases in population. Society learned how to curb population growth, and in advanced countries, people began to limit family size.

#7

The market and political institutions that were established in the eighteenth century did not always move forward smoothly. There were episodic economic crises, the worst being the Great Depression beginning in 1929, from which the US did not fully recover until World War II.

#8

The Enlightenment promoted tolerance and liberalism, but some of its findings, like evolution, went against the religious conservatives’ beliefs. The business community, which benefited from these findings, supported the Enlightenment, but also supported Trump’s attacks on the Enlightenment’s institutions.

#9

The attacks on our