Joseph E. Stiglitz — Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

The economist Thomas Piketty’s forecast of still higher levels of inequality does not reflect the inexorable laws of economics. Indeed, the main question today is not really about capital in the twenty-first century; it is about democracy in the twenty-first century.

Economists are now starting to weigh in strongly on social and political philosophy, social science, and political science. That's a good thing.

Since the ancient Greeks, this debate has been about what it means to life a good life as an individual in a good society. This is the subject matter of ethics, on one hand, and social and political inquiry on the other. Economics is a subset of these as a "moral science" (J. M. Keynes).

Failure to recognize this is to miss the entire point of economics as a discipline of knowledge that does not and cannot exist separately and independent from other disciplines of knowledge anymore than an economy can be separated from the society and its institutions that it serves as a material life-support system.

The issue: Is neoliberal capitalism antithetical to democracy instead of being its sine qua non as claimed by neoliberals (TINA). If neoliberalism and democracy are incompatible, how can this disconnect be reconciled socially, politically, and economical in an integrate fashion that serves both unique individuals and the society as a whole.

This requires inquiry into how to reconcile and harmonize the liberal ideals of the Enlightenment — liberty, egality, and community.

In America, this requires taking into consideration the Preamble: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

While the Preamble does not grant any rights or powers not included in the text of the US Constitution, it does state explicitly the basis for public purpose in a constitutional democracy.

Project Syndicate

Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
Joseph E. Stiglitz | Nobel laureate in economics, University Professor at Columbia University, formerly Chairman of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank