Introduction / Simon -- Human mortality throughout history and prehistory / Preston -- The decline of childhood mortality / Hill -- Disease and health through the ages / Haines -- The contribution of improved nutrition to the decline of mortality rates in Europe and America / Fogel -- Trends in health of the US population: 1957-89 / Crimmins & Ingegneri -- Mortality and health in the former Soviet Union / Feshbach -- Worldwide historical trends in murder and suicide / Chesnais -- The history of accident rates in the United States / Holen -- World trends in smoking / Brandt -- Long-term trends in the consumption of alcoholic beverages / Roberts -- Trends in the agricultural labor force / Sullivan --

The standard of living through the ages / Burnette & Mokyr -- Long-term trends in the US standard of living / Lebergott -- Long-term trends in productivity / Atack -- The extent of slavery and freedom throughout the ages, in the world as a whole and in major subareas / Engerman -- Black Americans: income and standard of living from the days of slavery to the present / Higgs & Margo -- The long-term course of American inequality: 1647-1969 / Lindert & Williamson -- Trends in unemployment in the United States / Keyssar -- Trends in costs and quality of housing / Muth -- Trends in the quantities of education-USA and elsewhere / Simon & Boggs -- Trends in free time / Robinson -- Trends in poverty in the United States / Blank -- How "poor" are America's poor? / Rector --

Homelessness in America / Filer -- The recent US economy / Reynolds -- Long-term trends in energy prices / Hausman -- Trends in the price and supply of oil / Adelman -- The costs of nuclear power / Cohen -- Trends in availability of non-fuel minerals / Myers, Moore & Simon -- Trends in nonrenewable resources / Goeller -- Trends in availability and usage of outdoor recreation / Nelson -- Global forests revisited / Sedjo & Clawson -- Species loss revisited / Simon & Wildavsky --

Agricultural productivity before the green revolution / Grantham -- The world's rising food productivity / Avery -- Recent trends in food availability and nutritional well-being / Poleman -- Trends in grain stocks / Hudson -- Trends in food from the sea / Wise -- Trends in soil erosion and farmland quality / Gardner & Schulz -- Water, water everywhere but not a drop to sell / Anderson -- Trends in land use in the United States / Frey -- Long-run trends in environmental quality / Baumol & Oates -- Atmospheric pollution trends in the United Kingdom / Elsom -- Trends in air pollution in the United States / Ellsaesser -- Comparative trends in resource use and pollution in market and socialist economies / Bernstam --

Acid rain / Kulp -- Stratospheric ozone: science and policy / Singer -- The greenhouse effect and global change: review and reappraisal / Michaels -- Greenhouse scenarios to inform decision makers / Lave -- The hazards of nuclear power / Cohen -- Pesticides, cancer, and misconceptions / Ames -- The carcinogen or toxin of the week phenomenon: the facts behind the scares / Whelan -- American public opinion: environment and energy / Lunch & Rothman -- Public opinion about, and media coverage of, population growth / Simon -- Risk within reason / Zeckhauser & Viscusi --