AGE: 53
OCCUPATION: Nobel Prize–winning economist
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0
PRO: In a new book, his sobering estimates of the war's "real" costs — nearly $3 trillion or more by 2017 — got the media's attention, and the government's, and helped reignite the Iraq debate.
CON: Then Iraq itself reignited, and the discussion shifted away from money and towards more existential concerns. And Stiglitz's longtime laissez-faire critics continue to tar him as a nutty, pro-regulatory left-winger.