[NEW ARRIVALS] In 100 Years: Leading Economists

Predict the Future

AUTHOR : Ignacio Palacios-Huerta

PUBLISHER: The MIT Press

PRICE: $24.95

GENRE: Economics

This pithy and engaging volume shows that economists may be better equipped to predict the future than science fiction writers. Economists’ ideas, based on both theory and practice, reflect their knowledge of the laws of human interactions as well as years of experimentation and reflection. Although perhaps not as screenplay-ready as a work of fiction, these economists’ predictions are ready for their close-ups. In this book, 10 prominent economists - including Nobel laureates and several likely laureates - offer their ideas about the world of the 22nd century.

In scenarios that range from the optimistic to the guardedly gloomy, these thinkers consider such topics as the transformation of work and wages, the continuing increase in inequality, the economic rise of China and India, the endlessly repeating cycle of crisis and (projected) recovery, the benefits of technology, the economic consequences of political extremism, and the long-range effects of climate change. For example, Daron Acemoglu offers a thoughtful discussion of trends of the last century.