"Does anyone know why Stiglitz would risk ridicule by trying to contrast Volcker - who rapidly deregulated US banking in the 1980s during his sado-monetarist reign - with Summers/Rubin? "
I really don't know, but I can't help wondering whether the expectation that Stiglitz ill feelings towards Larry Summers would extend to Paul Volker misreads the 'post-ideological' moment. Stiglitz tacked far to the left in his attempts to move beyond what he called the 'Washington consensus'. And he is tacking far to the right to dislodge the more radical ideas current in the NGO world. Isn't this what we used to call 'triangulation'?