During the 1990s Francis Fukuyama announced the end of history. The 2000s showed how it is an illusion to imagine a peaceful world without conflict. In this book the authors explore how six major constraints are set to fix the trajectory of the global economy. Three of them are new: the aging population, the failure of technical progress, and the scarcity of savings. The other three have been at work for some time: the explosion of inequality, the mass transfer of activities from one end of the world to the other, and the limitless financialization of economy. They suggest that like seismic activity which depends on pressure between tectonic plates, the political and social tensions will be exacerbated in the coming years by these major forces. They propose that authorities will be incapable of preventing neither the date nor the intensity of the coming earthquakes, and ask the question: Are we able to cope with these future shocks and the violence they are sure to cause?

Technological dominance is shifting the balance of global economic stability. This is the central premise behind the latest book from Lorenzi and Berrebi who view the rise of artificial intelligence, robotics, use of private data, and genetic transformation, among other developments, culminating in new economic conditions that require a fresh sense of governance in order for society to sustain order. Whilst progress in technology provides numerous opportunities and hope, is the desire to pursue these ambitions in innovation putting our society at risk of being undermined and, ultimately, governed by technology firms? How will these changes affect economic outlooks in an age of growing inequality and aging populations? What role do politicians serve in facilitating these changes? The decline of a labour force, the use of Big Data and increased speeds of communication are but three examples that the authors address in their quest to understand where the limits should lie between progress and disruption for the future of society.