Recommendation: Tips for new players
Where to read: If your Bernie-Bro mates can see you = instant progressive street cred
Read with: It’s called champagne socialism for a reason…
In brief: I must admit I didn’t find it a particularly riveting read however that is probably because it doesn’t add much for anyone even vaguely familiar with the terms of the income inequality debate.
Stiglitz goes against the grain of the prevailing economic view in the US (at the time of publication at least). Accordingly, he spends a lot of time setting his argument out slowly and carefully. He’s not trying to preach to the choir so he does a lot of work building the foundations of his thesis and trying to convince the reader of the essential premises. Depending on your political persuasion and prior familiarity, this may or may not be particularly useful.
If you don’t have a lot of background knowledge or a lingering fondness for trickle-down economics and tax cuts, it’s a valuable read. If you agree with Stiglitz already, it’s probably not going to add much and you’d be better off reading something a little more on the conservative side to get another side of the argument.
Bookshelves & Bourbon 