Passage to a Human World: The Dynamics of Creating Global Wealth

Max Singer

Transaction Publishers - Political Science - 390 pages

"Singer convincingly demonstrates that econ-omic growth is the central reality of the modern era... His arguments are sometimes subtle, but he walks the reader through them with schematized subheadings, summaries, and relentless patience." --Peter Brimelow, The Wall Street Journal

Responding to the Club of Rome's Limit to Growth and its successors, Singer argues that the dominant characteristic of the modern era is almost completely unrecognized: the world's passage, in the few centuries surrounding our own, from poverty to wealth. This rapid transformation in the condition of human life--from poor to wealthy, from nature-dominated to human--dominated is described here, as are the reasons why it has been largely ignored.

Contents

• What Is Happening in History: 1
• List of Tables TextTables 1 Some Catchy Numbers to Describe the Passage to a Human World: 13
• Comparison of the Amounts of Change: 14
• The Nature and Sources of Wealth: 17
• Evaluating LongTerm National Growth Rates: 25
• The Spread of Wealth Around the World: 31
• The Distribution of Wealth in the World Today: 43
• The Distribution of Wealth in the World 1984: 44
• Alternative Scenarios for Future Growth Rates of India: 50
• The Earth Has Plenty: 61
• Perspective on the World Population Explosion: 67
• Running Out of Raw Materials The Scarcity Error: 75
• Use of Raw Materials in the United States: 80
• Everything else Raw Materials Excluding Food Fuel: 81
• Use of NonRenewable Raw Materials in the United States: 83
• Feeding the Exploded Population is a Task: 91
• Energy in Transition: 119
• World Energy Budgets: 123
• Possible Sources of Energy for the Next 200 Years: 133
• Water Shortages and the Power of Innumeracy: 135
• The Misplaced Concern About Other: 141
• Hyothetical Material X: 145
• Everything else in more detail: 147
• Metal Use in the United States Typical Recent Year: 153
• Problems and DangersReal and Imaginary: 159
• Natural and Other Disasters: 181
• Technology is a Friend Not an Enemy: 199
• Reducing the Effects of Aging: 205
• Low NationalMorale Among University: 225
• The Hypothesis of Low National Morale: 253
• A Glimpse at the Future: 275
• The Nine Biggest Countries in 2064 Population: 277
• The Eight Richest Big Countries in 2064: 278
• The Seven Biggest Economies in 2064: 280
• A Possible Distribution of Wealth in the World 2064: 281
• Changing Income Levels in the World: 282
• The Changing Distribution of People in the World: 286
• A Final Comment: 293
• Geographic Changes in the Distribution of People 19842064: 296
• Geographic Changes in the Distribution of Wealth 19842064: 298
• Summary of the Spread of Wealth by Region: 300
• The Nine Biggest Countries Population 198420242064: 301
• The Seven Biggest Economies GNP 198420242064: 302
• Ranks in 2064: 303
• The Idea of Extraction from the Earth: 311
• E PolicyMaking Concerning Subtle Environmental Risks: 325
• Endnotes: 339
• EndTables: 359
• Nearly Wealthy Countries: 360
• Countries Where Economic Growth is Well Begun: 361
• Barely Started Countries: 362
• World Bank Estimates of Purchasing Power Parities: 369
• Use of Raw Materials in the U S: 370
• Hypothetical Number Manipulation: 373
• Another Diagnostic Test for Low National Morale: 374
• Projection Reference Table: 376
• The Members of the Small Country Groups: 380
• Index: 383

Bibliographic information

• Title: Passage to a Human World: The Dynamics of Creating Global Wealth
• Author: Max Singer
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers
• ISBN: 1412830524, 9781412830522
• Length: 390 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economics / Microeconomics; Political Science / Public Policy / General