| Table of Contents |
| | Acknowledgments | |
| 1 | Introduction / Julian L. Simon | 1 |
| Pt. I | Life, Death, and Health | 29 |
| | 2 | Human Mortality Throughout History and Prehistory / Samuel H. Preston | 30 |
| | 3 | Decline of Childhood Mortality / Kenneth Hill | 37 |
| | 4 | Disease and Health through the Ages / Michael R. Haines | 51 |
| | 5 | Contribution of Improved Nutrition to the Decline in Mortality Rates in Europe and America / Robert William Fogel | 61 |
| | 6 | Trends in Health of the US Population: 1957-89 / Eileen M. Crimmins, Dominique G. Ingegneri | 72 |
| | 7 | Mortality and Health in the former Soviet Union / Murray Feshbach | 85 |
| | 8 | Worldwide Historical Trends in Murder and Suicide / Jean-Claude Chesnais | 91 |
| | 9 | History of Accident Rates in the United States / Arlene Holen | 98 |
| | 10 | World Trends in Smoking / Allan M. Brandt | 106 |
| | 11 | Long-Term Trends in the Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages / James S. Roberts | 114 |
| Pt. II | Standard of Living, Productivity, and Poverty | 123 |
| | 12 | Trends in the Agricultural Labor Force / Richard J. Sullivan | 124 |
| | 13 | Standard of Living Through the Ages / Joyce Burnette, Joel Mokyr | 135 |
| | 14 | Long-Term Trends in the US Standard of Living / Stanley Lebergott | 149 |
| | 15 | Long-Term Trends in Productivity / Jeremy Atack | 161 |
| | 16 | Extent of Slavery and Freedom Throughout the Ages, in the World as a Whole and in Major Subareas / Stanley L. Engerman | 171 |
| | 17 | Black Americans: Income and Standard of Living from the Days of Slavery to the Present / Robert Higgs, Robert A. Margo | 178 |
| | 18 | Long-Term Course of American Inequality: 1647-1969 / Peter H. Lindert, Jeffrey G. Williamson | 188 |
| | 19 | Trends in Unemployment in the United States / Alexander Keyssar | 196 |
| | 20 | Trends in Costs and Quality of Housing / Richard F. Muth | 203 |
| | 21 | Trends in the Quantities of Education - USA and Elsewhere / Julian L. Simon, Rebecca Boggs | 208 |
| | 22 | Trends in Free Time / John P. Robinson | 224 |
| | 23 | Trends in Poverty in the United States / Rebecca M. Blank | 231 |
| | 24 | How "Poor" Are America's Poor? / Robert Rector | 241 |
| | 25 | Homelessness in America / Randall K. Filer | 257 |
| | 26 | Recent US Economy / Alan Reynolds | 271 |
| Pt. III | Natural Resources | 279 |
| | 27 | Long-Term Trends in Energy Prices / William J. Hausman | 280 |
| | 28 | Trends in the Price and Supply of Oil / Morris A. Adelman | 287 |
| | 29 | Costs of Nuclear Power / Bernard L. Cohen | 294 |
| | 30 | Trends in Availability of Non-Fuel Minerals / John G. Myers, Stephen Moore, Julian L. Simon | 303 |
| | 31 | Trends in Nonrenewable Resources / H. E. Goeller | 313 |
| | 32 | Trends in Availability and Usage of Outdoor Recreation / Robert H. Nelson | 323 |
| | 33 | Global Forests Revisited / Roger A. Sedjo, Marion Clawson | 328 |
| | 34 | Species Loss Revisited / Julian L. Simon, Aaron Wildavsky | 346 |
| Pt. IV | Agriculture, Food, Land, and Water | 363 |
| | 35 | Agricultural Productivity Before the Green Revolution / George W. Grantham | 364 |
| | 36 | World's Rising Food Productivity / Dennis Avery | 376 |
| | 37 | Recent Trends in Food Availability and Nutritional Well-Being / Thomas T. Poleman | 394 |
| | 38 | Trends in Grain Stocks / William J. Hudson | 405 |
| | 39 | Trends in Food from the Sea / John P. Wise | 411 |
| | 40 | Trends in Soil Erosion and Farmland Quality / Bruce L. Gardner, Theodore W. Schultz | 416 |
| | 41 | Water, Water Everywhere But Not a Drop to Sell / Terry L. Anderson | 425 |
| | 42 | Trends in Land Use in the United States / H. Thomas Frey | 434 |
| Pt. V | Pollution and the Environment | 443 |
| | 43 | Long-Run Trends in Environmental Quality / William J. Baumol, Wallace E. Oates | 444 |
| | 44 | Atmospheric Pollution Trends in the United Kingdom / Derek M. Elsom | 476 |
| | 45 | Trends in Air Pollution in the United States / Hugh W. Ellsaesser | 491 |
| | 46 | Comparative Trends in Resource Use and Pollution in Market and Socialist Economies / Mikhail S. Bernstam | 503 |
| | 47 | Acid Rain / J. Laurence Kulp | 523 |
| | 48 | Stratospheric Ozone: Science and Policy / S. Fred Singer | 536 |
| | 49 | Greenhouse Effect and Global Change: Review and Reappraisal / Patrick J. Michaels | 544 |
| | 50 | Greenhouse Scenarios to Inform Decision Makers / Lester Lave | 565 |
| | 51 | Hazards of Nuclear Power / Bernard L. Cohen | 576 |
| | 52 | Pesticides, Cancer, and Misconceptions / Bruce N. Ames | 588 |
| | 53 | Carcinogen or Toxin of the Week Phenomenon: The Facts Behind the Scares / Elizabeth M. Whelan | 595 |
| Pt. VI | Thinking about the Issues | 609 |
| | 54 | American Public Opinion: Environment and Energy / William M. Lunch, Stanley Rothman | 610 |
| | 55 | Public Opinion About, and Media Coverage of, Population Growth / Rita J. Simon | 619 |
| | 56 | Risk Within Reason / Richard J. Zeckhauser, W. Kip Viscusi | 628 |
| | 57 | Natural Ecology Today and in the Future: A Personal View / Kenneth Mellanby | 637 |
| Pt. VII | Conclusion: From the Past to the Future | 641 |
| | 58 | What Does the Future Hold? The Forecast in a Nutshell / Julian L. Simon | 642 |
| | List of Figures | 661 |
| | List of Tables | 671 |
| | List of Contributors | 673 |
| | Index | 677 |
