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Joseph Stiglitz awarded
1st Atkinson Equality Prize

Blue Metropolis Literary Festival honours world-famous economist

By Byron Toben

World famous economist Joseph E. Stiglitz was the inaugural recipient of the Anthony Atkinson Equality Prize at the 2019 Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. The event, held in the fully packed 1300-seat Amphitheatre at the Université de Montréal was in partnership with the Observatoire Québécois des Inégalités.

Stiglitz, now a professor at Columbia University in New York, has garnered more awards than you can shake a stick at. A Nobel in Economics (2001) and many other prizes are joined by appointments as Chief Economist to the World Bank, Chairman of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisors, President of the International Economic Association and Founding Chair of the U.N. Commission on Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System.

To my mind, the lecture echoed many of the themes underlying policies expounded by current US politicians Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocassio-Cortez.

He also found time to start a think tank and write several books. Besides degrees from M.I.T., University of Chicago and Cambridge as a Fulbright scholar, he has also collected 40 honorary degrees.

Not bad for a boy from Gary, Indiana, whose other notables, besides astronaut Frank Borman, consist of the Jackson Five and a few other performers or athletes.

Sir Tony Atkinson - WestmountMag.ca

Sir Tony Atkinson – Image: Niccolò Caranti [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

British Sir Tony Atkinson had passed away on New Years Day 2017. His widow, Judith, presented the award and Nicolas Zorn, Director of the Observatoire, engaged Mr Stiglitz in conversation after a lecture by the honouree.

Much of the lecture was in line with the titles of his books, such as The Great Divide: Unequal Societies And What We Can Do About Them (2015) and People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent (2019).

(Wow ! Richard III complained about one winter of discontent. Now, alas, we have a whole age!)

To my mind, the lecture echoed many of the themes underlying policies expounded by current US politicians Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocassio-Cortez.

This is fitting for a scholar activist influenced in part by Henry George and Maynard Keynes.

What I admire in Stiglitz is his appreciation of what used to be called political economy before institutions divorced them into separate disciplines for study. But, like love and marriage, horse and carriage, you can’t have one without the other.

For more information about 2019 Blue Metropolis Literary Festival events visit bluemetropolis.org

Feature image: Joseph Stiglist, World Economic Forum [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.
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