Economic Scholars Contemplate World Economy in Year 2000

Dwight Perkins, chairman of the Economics Department, and Anne P. Carter, the Hecht Professor of International Economics at Brandeis University, spoke at the Cambridge Forum last night on the "World Economy in the Year 2000."

Carter said the population of the world will almost double, the income per capita will double and the bulk of the world economy will quadruple.

Perkins said the rapid economic growth seen in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East indicates the world's economy will be eight times as large.

He said that although the majority of the world is poor today, rapid economic growth may result in "pockets of poverty, with many people rapidly ceasing to be poor."

Perkins added this economic growth will facilitate a redistribution of wealth.

The economists answered questions from the audience of 50 people.