Balance between market and state economy ideal for Egypt

Nobel Prize winner and economist Joseph Stiglitz believes that an economic model balanced between a market and state economy would be ideal for Egypt in managing a successful transitional period, as it works to attract investments to stimulate its economy.

In his first visit to post-revolution Egypt, the prominent economist gave a lecture at Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria on Thursday entitled “Solving Unemployment in Egypt,” in which he outlined some of the challenges the nation faces during its transition and measures to deal with them.

Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information. He is now University Professor at Columbia University in New York and chair of the university's Committee on Global Thought. Although Stiglitz served as the chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank from 1997 to 2000, he afterward became critical of its neo-liberal model, which he outlines in his book, “Globalization and Its Discontents,” which sold more than a million copies worldwide.