Economic Environments of the West: Problems, Puzzles, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Economic Environments of the West: Problems, Puzzles, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution


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Industrial Revolution. This era will introduce radically different tools and techniques that require fundamentally rethinking the idea of work, productivity, and prosperity. The emergent Fourth Industrial Revolution will fundamentally alter how people work, consumers spend, companies compete, officials regulate, and markets perform. Unlike before, where these shifts unfolded over three or four generations, the West faces the unprecedented challenge of experiencing this shift in a single generation. Artificial intelligence and robots will have a significant impact on the job market, eliminating 75 million jobs worldwide by 2022. Worse still, more than half of all tasks in the workplace will be done by machines by 2025. However, more than 130 million new jobs will be created by machines in that time frame according to estimates by the World Economic Forum. 

1. Forecast your personal future given:

 (a) the ongoing comeback of emerging economies and then
 (b) the techno-transformations powered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

Which scenario do you prefer? Why?

2. Historically, those in the West hold that economic freedom is the catalyst of prosperity. Given the recent performance of emerging economies, do you think state capitalism might do a better job?

3. In the realm of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, should governments estimate the performance with monetary aggregates, like GDP, or sustainability and stability, like human development or happiness? Who will likely benefit more from the Fourth Industrial Revolution: workers in developed, emerging, or developing economies? Why?