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Volume 1, Issue 6 - May 2013

In Search of a New Paradigm for Global Development
The Demographic Revolution: Reconceptualizing Macroeconomics
Networks: Innovation, growth and sustainable development
Human Centered Development Perspective
The Right to Development
Building a Caring Economy and Society
From Epicurus to Maslow
Steve Jobs: Nobel Laureate
The Dogma of Democracy Gone Sour
Malthus
An Aging Workforce: Employment Opportunities and Obstacles
The Arms Trade Treaty Opens New Possibilities at the UN
BOOK-REVIEWS
Multiplying Money
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In Search of a New Paradigm for Global Development

Ivo Šlaus & Garry Jacobs

This article is intended to serve as an initial discussion paper for a WAAS e-seminar, an international conference at UNO in Geneva and a workshop at the Library of Alexandria in May-June, 2013 ... Read More

The Demographic Revolution: Reconceptualizing Macroeconomics

Orio Giarini

It is important to reconsider the measurements which refer to the "Wealth of Nations" and from which the most appropriate references for better welfare policies are derived. In the present Service Economy, not all the "value added" measures indicate an increase in the level of wealth (the costs to cope with pollution for instance), whereas many developments in service functions and performances (in the case of many communication systems for instance) add to real wealth much more than the usual value added references indicate ... Read More

Networks: Innovation, growth and sustainable development

Peter Johnston

Our self-organising social networks have structured our societies and economies, and are now reflected in our technology networks. We can now replicate their evolution in computer simulations and can therefore better assess how to deal with the greatest challenges facing us in the next few decades ... Read More

Human Centered Development Perspective

Garry Jacobs, Orio Giarini & Ivo Šlaus

The Trieste Forum in March 2013 marked a significant milestone in the effort of the World Academy to evolve a comprehensive, integrated, trans-disciplinary perspective for addressing global challenges. An initial presentation on the physics of Dark Matter aptly illustrated the need for new thinking in the social sciences ... Read More

The Right to Development

Winston Nagan

One of the most far-reaching decisions of the United Nations General Assembly was the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development in 1986. The Declaration was adopted with an expectation of optimism about progression to a new global economic dispensation. This did not happen ... Read More

Building a caring economy and society

Riane Eisler

Old economic approaches are not capable of meeting our economic, environmental, and social challenges. To effectively meet these challenges, we need a perspective that goes beyond the conventional capitalism vs. socialism debate ... Read More

From Epicurus to Maslow

Gerald Gutenschwager

Protagoras said, "The human being is the measure of all things". This implies, among other things, that language, science and religion are human inventions, as are economics, money, efficiency, race, conflict, etc. As symbol-using animals, we have created these concepts to serve our purposes. But as our societies have ... Read More

Steve Jobs: Nobel Laureate

Garry Jacobs

The remarkable achievements of one of the world's greatest entrepreneurs offer profound insights into the fundamental nature of economy and essential missing links in prevailing economic theory. The career of Steve Jobs dramatically illustrates the central importance of human capital in modern economy and the almost ... Read More

The Dogma of Democracy Gone Sour

Graeme Maxton

When it comes to political organisation the western world likes to claim the moral high ground. It touts the benefits of free and fair elections, as if the concept of democracy were a self-evident, eternal truth. For the US State Department, democracy has taken on near-religious significance. It has become a right, just as much as the right to life, liberty and happiness ... Read More

Malthus

John Scales Avery

T.R. Malthus' "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798) was one of the first systematic studies of the problem of population in relation to resources. It was the first such study to stress the fact that, in general, powerful checks operate at all times to keep human populations from increasing beyond the available food supply. In a later edition, published in 1803, he buttressed this assertion with carefully collected demographic and sociological data ... Read More

Multiplying Money

Garry Jacobs

This article is not a comprehensive factual history of money as an economic instrument. It aims rather to present an essential psychological history of the power of money as a social organization or social technology. It explores the catalytic role of money in the development of society and its ever-increasing capacity for accomplishment in both economic and non-economic fields ... Read More

An Aging Workforce: Employment Opportunities and Obstacles

Mirjana Radović-Marković

The last decade has witnessed significant changes in the structure of unemployment in the global labour market. This is corroborated by the fact that the global workforce is rapidly aging and the share of people aged 50 and over in the structure of the labour market is increasing ... Read More

The Arms Trade Treaty Opens New Possibilities at the UN

John Scales Avery

On 2 April, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty, which had been blocked for ten years in the consensus-bound Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, was put directly before the United Nations General Assembly, and was passed by a massive majority. This historic victory ... Read More

Book Reviews

Michael Marien

The fifth quadrennial installment of the NIC series “aimed at providing a framework for thinking about the future…by identifying critical trends and potential discontinuities,” described as “megatrends” (factors that will likely occur under any scenario) and “game-changers” (critical variables whose trajectories are far less certain) ... Read More