Stiglitz is a Nobel-prizewinning economist and a professor at Columbia University. He chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House under President Bill Clinton. The council was created by the Employment Act of 1946, which committed the United States "to foster…conditions under which there will be afforded useful employment for those able, willing, and seeking work".
Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.