Human capital is the most precious of all resources, a resource of virtually unlimited creative potential ...
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It is the integration of the whole system which provides the “Wealth of Nations” ... Read more
Smaller national and regional trading networks have a much smaller range of wealth, so globalisation has made the rich richer simply because of the larger scale of the trading network ... Read more
The really confining limits are not material or technological, but conceptual. The real barriers are the limits imposed by prevailing ideas and values. We are unwitting and unknowing prisoners of our own conceptions ... Read more
There should be a recognition of a global commitment to a right to development with an explicit emphasis on the development of human and social capital as the true repository and generator of human values on a global scale ... Read more
Economic systems do not arise in a vacuum. They are influenced by, and in turn influence, the larger social system in which they are embedded ... Read more
Economics would like to see itself as a natural science (physics, preferably) being applied to society, and thereby assume that human consciousness and intention play no role in the events that are observed and measured in the social context ... Read more
Economy is a human science concerned with the study of how conscious human beings and social groups apply and direct their energy, knowledge, skills and organizational capabilities to generate wealth, promote human welfare and enhance the well-being of all. ... Read more
America’s democratic system, the one the world is supposed to look up to as a model, is suffering from exactly the problems the Founding Fathers were trying to avoid ... Read more
Malthus was conscious that he had drawn an extremely dark picture of the human condition... he was convinced that the dark shades really are there, and that they form an important part of the picture ...Read more
There is an urgent need for formulation of an integrated theory of employment to explain the process by which jobs are created and to explain the contributing role of political, social ... Read more
When the will of the majority of the world’s peoples is clearly expressed in an international treaty, even if the treaty functions imperfectly, the question of legality is clear ... Read more
The potential for greater individual initiative (is) key to solving the mounting global challenges over the next 15-20 years ... Read more
The growth of wealth is a measure of humanity’s capacity to integrate myriad points of production and consumption within an ever widening, increasingly interconnected and complex network of trust. ... Read more
Download Issue 6
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 ...
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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