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Title: Future of the world economy: a United Nations study. [1980, 1990, and 2000]

Book ·
OSTI ID:5232393

The basis for the present report was a study on the environmental aspects of the future world economy. Although the 1970s have been designated as the Second United Nations Development Decade, certain policies, especially those relating to environmental factors, are more realistically viewed from a longer-term perspective. While the potential impact of environmental constraints may not impinge to any substantial extent on development over the medium-term, the cost of postponing actions that take account of such potential factors may be great. The impact exerted by environmental conditions and policies on the growth and structure of the world economy generally becomes apparent only gradually and in the long run. Environmental conditions and policies, however, are highly pertinent to the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade, despite the Strategy's single-decade format. To provide a quantitative basis for the study, a global economic model of the world economy was constructed. The purpose of the model is to display various possible interrelationships, as the world economy evolves over future decades, between environmental and other economic policies. With respect to time horizons, the world economy of 1970 is depicted and compared with hypothetical pictures of the world economy in 1980, 1990, and 2000. The detailed methodology and substantive findings of the study are released in parts one and two of this report. The introduction gives a short history of the project and summarizes the findings and conclusions of the study having the most immediate interest for the current deliberations on the future of the International Development Strategy and ways of implementing the new international economic order. (MCW)

OSTI ID:
5232393
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English