Creating Wealth: Building the Wealth Pyramid for Individuals,

As we stand at the start of the new millennium, MIT economist Lester Thurow addresses the critical issue of wealth creation. The result is an essential road map for navigating the new routes to success in a knowledge-based global economy. Breakthrough technologies are fundamentally changing the game of creating wealth. New industries such as software and gene therapy are growing rapidly, while more traditional businesses are transforming beyond recognition. A new global economy is emerging to replace existing national economies. What skills are needed to succeed in this new economy? What new rules must apply to the creation and protection of new ideas? How can marketable wealth be rising while productivity growth is slowing? How can nations create a system in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish without creating inequalities? Success requires new forms of social organisation and entrepreneurs who challenge old systems to invent new industries and remake old ones. It requires different and substantially enhanced skill sets, new investments in tools, and an understanding of how new technologies can be used to augment natural and environment resources.