ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the quantitative analysis of economic and social systems has been essentially limited to studies of segments of society, such as the operations of a corporation, the growth and decay of an urban area, or the development of a particular industry. The Club of Rome model is the first attempt to analyze the evolution of the entire world system. It provides long-term projections of such major factors as world population, pollution, per capita food supply, natural resource utilization, and capital investment. The model and its computer output have received widespread comment, both favorable and unfavorable. World 2 contains as the major worldwide outputs: population, pollution level, level of natural resources, total capital investment, capital investment in agriculture, and "quality of life." It is highly simplified, is based essentially on assumed relationships, and is highly aggregated. The structure of a relatively detailed global model consists of a complex interconnection of "feedback loops."
