Joseph E. Stiglitz (Gary, Indiana, 1943) is Professor at Columbia University in New York and Chair of Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Stiglitz was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, during the Clinton administration, and served as CEA chairman from 1995-97. He then became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000.

His work has helped explain the circumstances in which markets do not work well, and how selective government intervention can improve their performance.

Recognized around the world as a leading economic educator, he founded one of the leading economics journals, The Journal of Economic Perspectives. His book Globalization and Its Discontents (2001) has been translated into 35 languages. Other recent books include The Roaring Nineties, Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics, (with Bruce Greenwald), Fair Trade for All (with Andrew Charlton), and Making Globalization Work. His most recent book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, with Linda Bilmes, was published in March 2008.