Reviews of 2 books--Fortune Tellers: The Story of AmericaÕs First Economic Forecasters, written by Walter A. Friedman, and In 100 Years: Leading Economists Predict the Future, edited by Ignacio Palacios-Huerta

For the first book (a look backward), Sohn reviews FrieedmanÕs Òhistorical overview of the pioneers of forecasting, of the economic environments in which they worked, and of tool sets and methodologies they used to generate their forecasts.Ó These fathers of forecasting include Roger Babson, John Moody, Irving Fisher, C. J. Bullock, Wesley Clair Mitchell, and Herbert Hoover, among others. Each manÕs methods and forecasts are covered in the review. It concludes with the mention of second-generation stock market forecasters like Benjamin Graham, Ralph Nelson Elliott, Lawrence Klein, Otto Eckstein, and others. For the second book (a look ahead), Sohn explains author ÒPalacios-HuertaÕs idea to invite some of the best brains in economics Ð three of them already awarded Nobel prizes Ð to speculate on the state of the world and material well-being in 2113.Ó Sohn then refers to the predictions of these current well known forecasters on several hot topics: population, climate, inequality, strife, work, and education. Copyright International Institute of Forecasters, 2014