"This multidisciplinary book looks at the long-term forces that are shaping the most important economic institutions in the United States in the coming decades. These underlying causes of change include not just economic, but also social, cultural, and political forces. The writing style is lively and clear, with a series of appendices focusing on technical issues of interest to specialists, so that the author's reasoning and the results are readily understandable to a wide audience.

He foresees a declining rate of growth, a widening of the inequalities of income, and a growing share of individual markets taken by a small number of large corporations. Combined with declining social solidarity and trust in government, he foresees an ever harder edge to the way in which capitalism will function in the future. The economic role of government will decline in the fields of stabilization and regulation, but government expenditures will become higher due to the aging of the population.

This book looks at the United States from a novel viewpoint and shows how many commonly accepted views of the U.S. economy need to be revised."--BOOK JACKET.