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Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Economic forecasting
The period leading up to the Great Depression witnessed the rise of
the economic forecasters, pioneers who sought to use the tools of
science to predict the future, with the aim of profiting from their
forecasts. This book chronicles the lives and careers of the men
who defined this first wave of economic fortune tellers, men such
as Roger Babson, Irving Fisher, John Moody, C. J. Bullock, and
Warren Persons. They competed to sell their distinctive methods of
prediction to investors and businesses, and thrived in the boom
years that followed World War I. Yet, almost to a man, they failed
to predict the devastating crash of 1929. Walter Friedman paints
vivid portraits of entrepreneurs who shared a belief that the
rational world of numbers and reason could tame--or at least
foresee--the irrational gyrations of the market. Despite their
failures, this first generation of economic forecasters helped to
make the prediction of economic trends a central economic activity,
and shed light on the mechanics of financial markets by providing a
range of statistics and information about individual firms. They
also raised questions that are still relevant today. What is
science and what is merely guesswork in forecasting? What motivates
people to buy forecasts? Does the act of forecasting set in motion
unforeseen events that can counteract the forecast made? Masterful
and compelling, Fortune Tellers highlights the risk and uncertainty
that are inherent to capitalism itself.
Although all advanced industrial societies have urban and regional
developmentpolicies, such policy in the United States historically
has taken on a very distinct form. Compared with the more top-down,
centrally orchestrated approaches of Western European countries, US
cities and, to a lesser degree, states, take the lead, spurred on
by developers and those with interest in rent. This bottom-up
policy creates conflict as one city battles with another for new
investments and as real estate developers fight over the spoils,
resulting in highly contentious politics. In The Politics of Urban
and Regional Development and the American Exception, Cox addresses
the question of why US policy is so unique. In doing so, he
illustrates the essential characteristics of American regional
development through a series of case studies including housing
politics in Silicon Valley; the history of the Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport; and a major redevelopment project that was
rebuffed in Columbus, Ohio. Cox contrasts these examples with
Western Europe's tradition of centralized governmental involvement
and stronger labor movements that historically have been more
concerned with creating what he calls "the good geography" than
profits for developers, whatever the shortfalls in policy outcomes
might be. The differences illuminate the peculiar nature of
political engagement and local competition in shaping the way US
urban development has evolved.
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