The Future of the Economy ― East-west Perspectives on Pathways Through Disruption

A great number of developments are occurring in advanced economies that have the potential to change established modes of thinking and the institutional arrangements that underpin basic economic organization, including the ties that bind groups of nations together. Labour-saving technological advances are accompanied by risks to jobs due to automation. Work is being made more insecure for medium and lower-skilled workers because of shifting capital-labor relationships. Regulatory systems are scrambling to adapt to new technologies in infrastructure planning or the classification of workers under rapidly proliferating ‘alternative work arrangements’. Crucial changes are taking place that risk eroding the structure of opportunity as well as public confidence in the institutions charged with economic policy-making. The many expert views contained in this book will be valuable to you if you are studying or working on the many overlapping issues of economy, technology, and society looking for insights into some of the most pertinent topics in today’s advanced economies.

Taking a multi-dimensional view, this book synthesizes the main issues and dilemmas facing the economy of the future, while proposing recommendations and solutions. It focuses on the intersection of work, technology, society, infrastructure, and the economic role of government. In this way, the book is centred on some of the most tangible areas of economic structure that re-produce the gains of growth, but also addresses important matters related to the distribution effects and measures that can produce more inclusive and productive outcomes, including the role of policy and regulation.

John Powers is a Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Design and Technology, Singapore

Vikram Khanna is Associate Editor at the Business Times, Singapore