In memory of the philosopher Miladin Životić, the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade awards a prize for critical engagement to leading theorists whose work has a significant impact on social practice. 

The Institute’s Academic Council, on the proposal of the Commission, decided to award the 2025 prize to Joseph Stiglitz, a distinguished economist and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. 

The award ceremony will take place on December 13, 2025, at 5 PM, in the Hall of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade. Following the award presentation, Professor Stiglitz will deliver a lecture titled: Freedom, Academia, and Social and Economic Progress. 

Professor, Columbia University; Founder and Co-President Initiative for Policy Dialogue; Chief  Economist for the Roosevelt Institute  

 Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the co-chair of The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University, in 2000. He has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 2001 and received that university’s highest academic rank (University Professor) in 2003. In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2024 he was named an Honorary Academician by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and in 2025 Pope Francesco named him a Chair of the Jubilee Commission of Experts to address Debt and Development Crises. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society and The Origins of Inequality & Policies to Contain It.