The High-Risk Society:: Peril and Promise in the New Economy

With job security all but gone, the economic realities of the 1990s have made risk and uncertainty ""the price of prosperity,"" according to this challenging overview by Business Week economics editor Mandel. Speedy technological change and global competition, both of them ""capricious and unpredictable"" in impact, disrupt employment and start-up business prospects; corporate restructuring ""downsizes"" payrolls and ""outsources"" services, writes Mandel, while government deregulation dilutes worker safeguards. Employee and small-business worries, in turn, chill the retail market. Retirement goals become uncertain. High-risk prosperity beckons the adventurous, not the timid or complacent, to its potentially vast rewards. This is a stimulating study, with strategies for the displaced--and some far-out economic solutions, among them ""wages-and-income financial markets"" with a function not made altogether clear. (Nov.)