2016 Reports

Stockholm Statement: Towards a Consensus on the Principles of Policymaking for the Contemporary World

Alkire, Sabina; Bardhan, Pranab; Basu, Kaushik; Bhorat, Haroon; Bourguignon, François; Deshpande, Ashwini; Kanbur, Ravi; Lin, Justin Yifu; Moene, Kalle; Platteau, Jean-Philippe; Saavedra, Jaime; Stiglitz, Joseph E.; Tarp, Finn

Thirteen economists, which included four former Chief Economists of the World Bank, met over two days in Stockholm, Sweden, on 16-17 September, 2016, to discuss the challenges faced by today’s economic policymakers. The meeting was hosted by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the World Bank. The group consisted of Professor Sabina Alkire (Oxford), Professor Pranab Bardhan (Berkeley), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Kaushik Basu (New York), Professor Haroon Bhorat (Cape Town), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank François Bourguignon (Paris), Professor Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi), Professor Ravi Kanbur (Ithaca), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Justin Yifu Lin (Beijing), Professor Kalle Moene (Oslo), Professor Jean-Philippe Platteau (Namur), Professor Jaime Saavedra (Lima), Nobel Laureate Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Joseph Stiglitz (New York), and Professor Finn Tarp (Helsinki and Copenhagen). At the end of the meeting the group decided to issue a statement of the consensus reached among them: the “Stockholm Statement.” What follows is this statement.