To listen to some of our politicians, and much of the public, you’d think the world was on the brink of collapse. Donald Trump says the world is “a mess.” Two-thirds of Americans say their country is on the wrong track. Polls show most people think hunger and violence are rising and living standards plummeting.

In Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, Swedish economist Johan Norberg has written a corrective to all the doom and gloom.