It has been ten years since the financial crisis dealt the biggest blow to the world economy since the Great Depression. While growth has returned, and the job market has by now tightened—especially in the United States, where the crisis originated—the reverberations of the crisis continue to affect us in ways both large and small, both obvious and indirectly connected.
The devastating damage to our economy calls for profound reflection and change, in economics, politics, the financial sector, among policymakers, and in our behavior. With the United States now done staving off total disaster with emergency measures, it is time for the country to root out the causes of the crisis and make deep adjustments to protect against another such painful and utterly wasteful episode.
Author
Joseph Stiglitz
Chief Economist and Senior FellowAs chief economist and senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, Joseph Stiglitz focuses on income distribution, risk, corporate governance, public policy, macroeconomics, and globalization.