In comments to Antenna 1 radio earlier this week, the Columbia University professor said that remaining in the euro would bring Portugal problems in the future.
Stiglitz argued that the German policy of austerity would remain despite several arguments pointing to the contrary.
He added that while Portugal would struggle initially in a hypothetical exit from the euro, it would allow the country to implement political and financial changes that would otherwise be impossible.
“I think Europe, as a whole, should start thinking about an amicable divorce with some countries so that they can start thinking of the ways in which to deal with an exit”, he said, adding: “It will cost Portugal more to stay than leave the euro”, he told the radio.
Stiglitz, is a one-time adviser to the Scottish government on independence and was briefly a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s now disbanded economic advisory panel.
The American economist has been travelling across Europe to promote his new book, The Euro, and its Threat to the Future of Europe.
Jospeh Stiglitz is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and is a former member and chairman of the (US president’s) Council of Economic Advisers.