BET ON IT Julian L. Simon People everywhere are living longer. The standard of living is rising throughout the world. Raw materials and energy are getting less scarce. The world's food supply is improving. Pollution in the U. S. has been decreasing.
Population growth has long-term benefits, though added people are a burden in the short run.
The U. S. benefits from more immigrants. These assertions have stood the test of time. Indeed, in the 1980s the professional consensus, including a recent report of the National Academy of Sciences, has come to agree. And I'll bet a week's or month's pay that any trend pertaining to human material welfare will improve rather than get worse. In contrast, the conventional beliefs of the doomsayers have been entirely falsified by events during the last two decades.