Joseph Stiglitz vs Justin Bieber

It is funny to see the Institute for New Economic Thinking (Inet) boasting about Joseph Stiglitz being named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine. Both Inet and Stiglitz keep on whinging about how marginalised they are but Time does not seem to agree (this is the Stiglitz who has a Nobel price in economics, was chief economic adviser to President Bill Clinton and chief economist at the World Bank).

Then again the Time piece on Stiglitz, written by Gordon Brown, does make the absurd claim that he is a “controversionalist”. It is hard to think of a less controversial, more mainstream character than the American economist.

Having said all that Justin Bieber is also on the list so perhaps the meaning of “influential” in this context is open to question. I have nothing against JB but I would not describe him as a powerful figure in society.