World economic development: 1979 and beyond c.3

We are in the midst of a Great Transition, argues Herman Kahn, with human society changing at an accelerating pace from the preindustrial stage to postindustrial conditions. This process began some 200 years ago, and will eventually culminate in the worldwide emergence of new and exciting forms of economic and social organization. World Economic Development deals mainly with the origins, processes, dimensions, and probably future consequences of the Great Transition, with special reference to the period from 1979 to 2000.
Kahn and his colleagues start from the premise that natural social, political, and cultural forces are likely to slow the growth of both population and production long before the world encounters any fundamentally unmanageable problems of supply or environmental pollution. They are sharply critical of much of the current conventional wisdom about economic growth, characterizing it as outdated and distorted by unwar ranted pessimism. Do not stop growth, insists Kahn. Rapid world wide economic growth is desirable, indeed essential. If the hungry are to be fed, the Third World must continue to industrialize. Advanced or at least appropriate technology must be employed to a logical and reasonable degree. Kahn suggests tactics and strategies to facilitate the achievement of these major social and economic objectives, drawing data both from the broad historical patterns of world economic development and from the narrower perspectives of the current problems and prospects of the affluent, the middle-income, and the poor nations.