By concentrating on the production of high-quality goods and opening up to imports of widelyconsumed goods from the developing countries, the wealthiest economies can make an important contribution to increasing world output and, above all, to ensuring it is more equitably distributed. The great economists are men of their times, but they also have the ability to shed light on the future.
The twentieth century gave us examples of instability and of economic and political upheaval of extraordinary magnitude. At some crucial moments people feared for the very survival of our civilization, owing to the wide-scale use of weapons of mass destruction.