2015 Chapters (Layout Features)

Reconstructing Macroeconomic Theory to Manage Economic Policy

Stiglitz, Joseph E.

It is a great pleasure for me to participate in this event celebrating Jean-Paul Fitoussi's contribution to economics and to public life. There are so many aspects of his work and of his collaborations over a long period of years on which I feel I should comment: His role, for instance, in the International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, has provided a critical impetus to what is now a major global movement. The commission’s work was not just about measurement; it was about shaping our society, for what we measure affects what we do. I should talk too about his contributions over a quarter century to the International Economic Association, where he served as Secretary General, and which he continues to advise. I could talk as well about his efforts to reshape the G20 agenda when France chaired that group, or the work we did together in the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.