Outrageous Fortunes: The Twelve Surprising Trends That Will Reshape the Global Economy » (Unabridged)

Daniel Altman is the author of Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy, Power in Numbers (with Philippe Douste-Blazy), and Neoconomy. He is Director of Thought Leadership at Dalberg Global Development Advisors and the founder and president of North Yard Economics, a not-for-profit consulting firm serving developing countries. He previously wrote economics columns for The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, and The New York Times and currently teaches at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He lives in New York City.

A Harvard-trained economist's startling predictions reveal critical challenges in the decades ahead, helping individuals, businesses, and governments to make smarter decisions

As individuals, companies, and countries struggle to recover from the economic crisis, many are narrowly focused on forecasts for the next week, month, or quarter. Yet they should be asking what the global economy will look like in the years to come—where will the long-term risks and opportunities arise? These are the questions that Daniel Altman confronts in his provocative and indispensable book.

The fate of the global economy, Altman argues, will be determined by deeper factors than those that move markets from moment to moment. His incisive analysis brings together hidden trends, societal pressures, and policy endgames to make twelve surprising but logical predictions about the years ahead. And his forecasts for the future raise a pressing question for today: With so many challenges awaiting us, are our political and economic institutions up to the task?

Outrageous Fortunes tells which industries will grow, which economies will crumble, which investments will pay off, and where the next big crisis may occur. Altman's carefully reasoned text is an essential guide for the road ahead.

Publishers Weekly

Amid all the handwringing on the downward trajectory of the global economy comes this cool, collected, and sensible view of forthcoming economic trends. Altman (Connected), professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, looks at deeper factors--geography, culture, government policies--to challenge conventional (or simply much touted) wisdom: he predicts China's economic supremacy will be short, undermined by its own central government's heavy-handedness and Confucian cultural influences. He offers an unflinching examination of the merits and flaws of capitalism and socialism and resets archaic perceptions about how to encourage or inhibit growth. In his analysis, capitalism comes out on top, but succeeds best and for a longer period of time with government intervention and redistributive policies. Altman predicts global migratory shifts that will make today's world financial centers obsolete and foresees the pitfalls of a unified European currency. Altman delivers more than mere analysis or foreshadowing: this is revelatory reading for even the most casual observer of economics, and an invaluable tool for reconsidering how the world makes money. (Jan.)