Kenneth Arrow's new paper

The title is "Some Perspectives on Linked Ecosystems and Socio-Economic Systems". From the conclusions:  

Any programs or movements trying to rapidly move society toward sustainability, will need to emphasize that many old ideas—such as that infinite growth of the physical economy is possible, that people are rational utility maximizers, that plagues are a phenomenon of the past, that nation states are the final stage of evolution of large political entities—can no longer be solid anchors for thinking about the future. Overall we would also recommend the “precautionary principle” needs to move into the forefront of both policy analysis and the thinking of the general public. This principle states, loosely, that we should avoid following any policy for which there is credible, even though not conclusive, evidence that it may lead to a very serious negative effect. In theory it should be prominent in any properly done cost-benefit analysis, but it normally is not—indeed many of the interactions of the human system with the ecosystem-environmental system (e.g., depletion of natural capital) are classically ignored. It’s a big order to apply the principle broadly to the really major issues facing society, but doing so would greatly improve society’s ability to buffer the serious threats embodied in the evolution of the two intertwined complex adaptive systems, which have been so central to Partha Dasgupta’s research agenda.

Paul R. Ehrlich & Simon A. Levin are the coauthors. 

Kenneth Arrow on the US Economy

The specific problems of the current U.S. economy—the drastic increase in unemployment and sluggish increase in output—overlay a tendency of much longer duration, a drastic and rapid increase in the inequality of income. Every economy of complexity produces an unequal distribution of the good things in life. But the period immediately following World War II showed a considerably increased equality of income compared with either the Great Depression or the previous period of relative prosperity.

Since the middle 1980s, this tendency has been reversed. In the United States, median family income (adjusted for size) has remained virtually constant since 1995, while per capita income has risen at about 2 percent per annum. The difference in income between college graduates and those with only high school degrees increased at a rapid rate, even during the period before 1990 when per capita income grew very slowly. Further, the proportion of the college-age population enrolled in college, which had been rising rapidly, stopped increasing and has remained the same for thirty years. Keep reading!

That is Kenneth Arrow on the US economy. HT @TimHarford