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The Roaring Nineties
Book

The Roaring Nineties

A New History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade

W.W. Norton, 2003 plus...

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Innovative

Recommendation

Only a Nobel Prize-winning economist could disguise a political broadside against conservatives and the George W. Bush administration inside a Trojan horse mea culpa of the Bill Clinton White House. No one could argue with Joseph Stiglitz’s assertion that an effective modern economy must strike a reasonable balance between free markets and government oversight – but what is reasonable? Stiglitz regrets what is arguably the shining achievement of the Clinton Administration, namely, its success in balancing the U.S. budget. Credit him for consistency: he opposed Clinton’s tax cut, just as he opposed George W. Bush’s. Stiglitz’s academic and professional chops are beyond question, and his insights into corporate welfare and inefficient markets are quite valuable, if somewhat short of profound. 

Take-Aways

  • The economic boom of the 1990’s sowed the seeds for the subsequent downturn.
  • The deficit hangover from the Ronald Reagan-George Bush I years left Bill Clinton to do the "dirty work" of deficit reduction without Republican support in Congress.
  • Clinton’s deficit-cutting zeal, required to gain credibility in the financial markets, ultimately overshadowed other important facets of his administration’s social agenda.

About the Author

Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote the international bestseller Globalization and its Discontents. From 1993 to 1997, he was a member and then the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. From 1997 to 2000, he was senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank.