ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses several possible ways of reducing the burden of risk and uncertainty. It also discusses some of the methods do actually reduce or eliminate risk and uncertainty. A fully developed system of forward markets, operating in those special conditions in which they could be completely effective, is a method of co-ordinating the future plans of the individual members of the community. Clearly there cannot in any real situation be any perfect forecasting of future conditions through the means of forward markets. While forward markets can play a limited role in helping to see whether future plans by different individuals are compatible with each other, they may usefully be supplemented by a rather cruder device for this purpose. This may be called the method of Centralized Market Research or of Indicative Planning. It can be used in a crude limited manner or can be developed to high degrees of sophistication and refinement.
