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Frederick S. Pardee
Institute for International Futures
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The International Futures (IFs) Platform

International Futures (IFs) is Pardee’s open-source, integrated forecasting platform for scenario-based analysis across human, social, and natural systems.
IFs does not predict a single future. It helps users compare plausible futures under different assumptions, using historical data, transparent model structure, and connected systems analysis.

Use this page to understand what IFs is, what it helps users examine, and where to go next based on your platform needs.

What IFs helps users do

IFs helps users ask structured questions about long-term change.
The platform connects data and model relationships across major global systems, allowing users to examine how changes in one area may affect outcomes in another. A user can compare scenarios involving education, demographic change, economic growth, governance, energy, agriculture, climate, infrastructure, health, conflict, trade, migration, aid, and international relations.

IFs is especially useful when users want to:
Compare plausible futures
Use scenarios to examine how different assumptions may change outcomes over time. Scenarios can help users compare policy choices, structural risks, resource constraints, and long-term development pathways.
Examine connected systems
Explore how changes in one system may affect another. For example, education may shape labor productivity, fertility, income, health, and poverty outcomes over several decades.
Support research and planning
Use IFs to support academic research, classroom learning, policy analysis, strategic planning, and applied scenario development. Results should be interpreted as conditional pathways, not predictions.

See how systems connect in IFs

Find your next step

Different users need different entry points. Start with the pathway below that best fits your question, experience level, and use case. 

How to use this open source

IFs is open source to support transparency, learning, scrutiny, and responsible application. Users may examine available source materials, consult the documentation, and contact Pardee with feedback, extensions, or module development requests.

Responsible use means naming key assumptions, comparing results against the IFs Base Case, recording the version used, consulting documentation when interpreting across model areas, and avoiding claims that scenario outputs predict what will happen.

How to cite IFs

When using IFs in research, teaching, or published analysis, cite the platform and record the version used.

Citation practices help other users understand which model version supported the analysis and how results were generated.

Suggested citation language:
International Futures (IFs) modeling system, Version x.xx. Frederick S. Pardee Institute for International Futures, Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, University of Denver, Denver, CO.

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