Perspectives on the History of Forecasting

 Journal Geschichte und Informatik / Histoire et informatique (vol. 24/2025) : Perspectives on the History of Forecasting

The latest issue of the journal ‘Geschichte und Informatik / Histoire et informatique’, published by the association History and Computing and edited by Vlad Atanasiu and Enrico Natale, focuses on «Perspectives on the History of Forecasting»

Using various case studies, the authors show that forecasting, i.e. the attempt to formulate predictions about the future based on an analysis of the past and to derive useful knowledge for decision-making, evolves with the technical possibilities and political priorities of historical moment. The contributions offer a rich overview of the history of forecasting from the interwar period to the present day, covering a geographical area stretching from the United States to the former USSR.

Vlad Atanasiu, Enrico Natale: Forecasting Against the Odds. Editorial

Laetitia Lenel: Erwartung und Enttäuschung. Die transatlantische Geschichte der Konjunkturprognostik in drei Akten

Marion Ronca: Die Gegenwart einholen mit Wachstumsprognosen. Von der gleichzeitigen ungleichzeitigen Entstehung der «Perspektivstudien» und der «Richtlinien der Schweizer Regierungspolitik»

Eglė Rindzevičiūtė: Bridging the Cybernetics Gap? Social Forecastingin the Late Soviet Union

Peter Keller, Georges T. Roos, Cla Semadeni: Zur Geschichte der Schweizerischen Vereinigung für Zukunftsforschung (SZF) / swissfuture

Peter Turchin, Dan Hoyer: Empirically Testing and Refining Structural Demographic Theory. A Methodological Guide

Roundtable with Sacha Zala, Eglė Rindzevičiūtė, Peter Turchin, Christian Pfister

The volume is freely accessible and can be downloaded from the publisher's website (https://www.chronos-verlag.ch/node/28856#kurztext).