What the Future Holds – Insights from Social Science - Softcover

Cooper, Richard N

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262532042 ISBN 13: 9780262532044

Publisher: MIT Press, 2003

Synopsis

Social scientists from various disciplines discuss and offer predictions about the future.

Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. But systematic analysis leads to clearer understanding and wiser decisions. Thinking about the future also makes social scientists focus their research into the past and present more fruitfully, with more attention to key predictors of change.

This book considers how we might think intelligently about the future. Taking different methodological approaches, well-known specialists forecast likely future developments and trends in human life. The questions they address include: How many humans will there be? Will there be enough energy? How will climate change affect our lives? What patterns of work will exist? How will government work at the local, national, and world level? Will inflation remain under control? Why have past forecasts been so bad? The book concludes with a discussion of the intellectual and historical context of futurology and a look at the accuracy of predictions that were made for the year 2000. Jed.

About this title

About the Authors

Richard N. Cooper is Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University.

Richard Layard is Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262532042
• ISBN 13: 9780262532044
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290