Born in 1943, Joseph Stiglitz is a living American economist who is considered to be among the most influential and popular economist of his era. Starting off his career as a research fellow at Cambridge University, where he developed his understanding of Keynes and macroeconomic theory, coming to be described as a prominent member of the new-Keynesian economic school which strives to provide the microeconomic foundations for Keynesian macroeconomics. Helping to establish the idea of imperfect competition - core to new-Keynesian economics - which helps explain the idea that perfect equilibrium may not always be possible to reach as in the presence of increasing returns, ability for new firms to enter is socially too large as existing firms seek to corner the market and increase profits. Recently, Stiglitz has authored a number of books, the most notable of which is the Price of Inequality, published in 2012, concerning the rising inequality in the developed world and seeks to lay out a 'comprehensive agenda to create a more dynamic economy and fairer and more equal society'