Tue 2009-09-22 08:17 EDT

Guest Post: Sarkozy, Stiglitz & capitalism's inherent contradictions

Swedish Lex

The French Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress presented its final Report written by Stiglitz and other leading economists at an event at la Sorbonne earlier today. The contents of Report is already being discussed widely but at least as relevant are the politics surrounding the Commission's Report and how France intends to use it to spearhead economic reform at home and abroad...at least in France, the financial crisis is alive and will be used to promote reform...Governments need to modify their behavior, first by changing how they account for the situation in society by including questions about the overriding purposes of society and public policy; ``our certitudes have evaporated, everything has to be put into question and re-invented''. Current methodologies fail to take externalities into account with the risk of booking developments as progress while, in reality, the opposite is true. Growth has in some regards destroyed more than it has achieved.

capitalism's inherent contradictions; Guest Post; Sarkozy; Stiglitz.

The Guardian World News Sun 2009-09-20 10:57 EDT

Sarkozy refuses to fret over GDP

Nicolas Sarkozy called for a "great revolution" in the way national wealth is measured today, throwing his weight behind a report which criticises "GDP fetishism" and prioritises quality of life over financial growth. Speaking days before the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, France's president urged the rest of the world to follow his example as he ordered a shake-up in research methods aimed at providing a more balanced reading of countries' performance. Endorsing the recommendations of a report given to him by Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, he said governments should do away with the "religion of statistics" in which financial prowess was the sole indicator of a country's state of health.

fret; GDP; Guardian World News; Sarkozy refuses.

naked capitalism Mon 2009-09-14 14:51 EDT

Guest Post: Sarkozy, Stiglitz & capitalism's inherent contradictions

Swedish Lex, an expert and advisor on EU regulatory and political affairs

The French Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress presented its final Report written by Stiglitz and other leading economists at an event at la Sorbonne earlier today. The contents of Report is already being discussed widely but at least as relevant are the politics surrounding the Commission's Report and how France intends to use it to spearhead economic reform at home and abroad. This post provides a few comments on Sarkozy's speech.

capitalism's inherent contradictions; Guest Post; naked capitalism; Sarkozy; Stiglitz.