Footnote [23]:
"Threshold 21" is a systems dynamics simulation modeling program
for policy analysis of national sustainable development with environmental
protection. It is a user friendly PC-based model that enables decision-makers
to assess the long-term (50 - 100 years) effects of alternative investment,
tax, subsidy, other relative price factors on national development indicators.
Social, economic, and environmental implications are analyzed endogenously.
It includes sectors for demography, health care, education, nutrition,
goods, trade, agriculture, fuel resources, energy, pollution, military,
technology, debt, national accounts, and "rest of world". It
is for policy analysis and crisis management to train would-be decision
makers for win-win cooperation.
The Systems Dynamics methodology was originated by Professor Jay Forrester
of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The main purpose of the methodology
is not on the forecasting capability of the simulation model, but rather
on the analytical understanding with rational and critical thinking basing
on reliable facts and figures, of the interwoven and interdependent relations
among various societal factors.