Professor Joseph Stiglitz - What's happening in the United States?

Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz, in conversation with the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia & Dr Emma Shortis, senior researcher International & Security Affairs at the Australia Institute on the future of Australia's relationship with the United States.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz is visiting Australia as a guest of the Australia Institute, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations in 2024.

As the United States election draws closer, what exactly is happening in the United States and what are the implications for Australia's relationship with the USA?

Operating in a post-truth political climate, how can Australia and the US work to preserve our democratic institutions and strengthen media diversity? As both countries battle rising inequality, what role has neoliberalism played in undermining democracy and how can we strengthen our collective ability to respond to major economic and security issues like climate change and rising inequality? If a re-elected Donald Trump introduces universal tariffs, what implications would this have for Australia's exports, global trade and the problem of inflation worldwide?

Join Nobel laureate economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz, the Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia and Dr Emma Shortis for a wide-ranging discussion about what's happening in the United States and the implications for Australia and the world.

Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize–winning economist, former chief economist of the World Bank and best-selling author. Professor Stiglitz is an economist and a professor at Columbia University Business School, as well as co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. Professor Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, the John Bates Clark Medal in 1979, and he was the recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize in 2018 - for leading a global conversation about the crisis caused by economic inequality and exposing the violence inflicted by market fundamentalism. He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. He is also the author of numerous best-selling books including, most recently, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society.

The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC is Australia’s 29th Prime Minister (2015-2018) who had international careers in law, business and the media before entering politics at the age of 50. As Prime Minister, he reformed Australia’s personal income tax, education and childcare systems, oversaw the legalisation of same sex marriage and announced the construction of Snowy Hydro 2.0 the biggest pumped hydro scheme in the southern hemisphere. Mr Turnbull embarked on the largest peacetime investment in Australian defence capabilities and set out Australia’s first national cybersecurity strategy. Globally, Mr Turnbull played a leading role in reviving the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP-11 or CPTPP) after the United States withdrew. He also struck deals with US Presidents Obama and Trump to accept refugees who tried to arrive in Australia illegally by boat. Since leaving politics, Mr Turnbull has resumed his business career. He is a senior adviser to KKR and an investor in, and adviser to, many Australian technology businesses. He is President of the International Hydropower Association. Mr Turnbull speaks and writes on a range of issues including cyber security, geopolitics and renewable energy.

Dr Emma Shortis is Senior Researcher in the International & Security Affairs Program. Emma is historian and writer, focused on the history and politics of the United States and its role in the world. She uses her expertise in history to interpret and explain what is happening in the world today, and what it means for Australia, in a compassionate and accessible way. In a conversation often dominated by the same voices, Emma offers a fresh perspective on international relations grounded in moral questions about how we might imagine a post-American future. Before joining the Australia Institute, Emma was a Lecturer at RMIT University, where her academic work focused on international relations and climate transition. Before that, she spent a year in the United States as Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University, where she finished her PhD in History. Emma’s first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. She writes regularly for Australian and international outlets, and appears regularly on Australian radio and television

The Australia Institute: Celebrating 30 years of Big Ideas
The Australia Institute is bringing some of the world’s brightest thinkers to Australia in 2024 to celebrate our 30th anniversary as the nation’s leading independent think tank. For 30 years the Australia Institute’s independent, non-partisan research has led the national policy debate with big ideas. The Australia Institute plays a critical role in shaping the national economic debate for a fairer society and economy—from our groundbreaking 1997 paper on better measuring wellbeing in Australia, The Genuine Progress Indicator, to the influential 2005 bookAffluenza (and later Curing Affluenza), to our cutting-edge research exposing the role of corporate profits in driving Australia’s post-pandemic inflation, to our influential work that helped reshape better fairer Stage 3 tax cuts—we have a track record of delivering research that shifts policy from the politically impossible into the inevitable.

Please note this event is presented by the Australia Institute. The State Library of NSW is the venue for this event; however, all content is presented by the Australia Institute who should be contacted with any enquiries about the event.