It will take at least a generation for these changes to make themselves felt in most corners of the world. But inside the industrial core of the world's rich countries there is already concern about these looming revolutions. Indeed, this concern will only become sharper and stronger, as citizens in rich countries fear that as the remaining barriers to international trade fall, industrial-core income distributions, social orders, and politics will be shaken to their foundations.
For the world as a whole, however, the next two generations are ones that will bring an extraordinary opportunity for economic growth and world prosperity. Perhaps at the end of history there is a pot of gold, after all.
J. Bradford DeLong is professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley and was assistant US treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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