Addressing Technology's Wake: Emerging Risks and the Public Policy Imperative

For many, technology and social progress are highly correlated, if not synonymous. The salutary impact of technology is indisputable. But with technological advancement comes consequences in the form of new economic risks which are often significant and typically born unequally by individuals and groups in modern society. Policies, programs and contractual schemes to address such risks, the joint province of government and the private sector, usually significantly trail their emergence. The reason: a panoply of interests, both public and private, struggle to address questions of social responsibility, moral hazard, and actuarial probabilities in order to address new risks. In technology’s large wake, individuals and businesses face significant risk exposure while these interests negotiate and litigate what is both politically possible and commercially viable. This course applies a social science perspective to the problem of emerging risk in advanced, technologically driven societies and economies. It focuses on four broad risk domains that are both highly topical and inadequately addressed by either the private or public sector.