ABSTRACT
In considering alternative economic futures and their underpinnings, I have put strong emphasis on ideologically motivated policy choices. This emphasis was not accidental. It is this motivation that may be the main factor determining not only the speed (as in the first and second scenarios) but also the direction (as in the third scenario) of economic change. For the scenario of decline clearly shows that the technologically reinforced changes in production and employment structures leading to shifts in political alignments and — on the feedback principle — to the resurgence of the market system and a more liberal political order are probable but not inevitable developments.
