Tectonic shifts in world economy

Global coordination can reduce instability and maximize the benefits from fundamental changes in structure

Whether we like it or not, the world around us is in a state of constant change. But recent economic trends suggest that this change may be shifting its direction in a fundamental way.

Consider the advanced economies. During the last two decades, economic growth in these countries was led by consumption - so much so that economic activity in these economies swung from investment to consumption by a total of 10 percentage points of GDP. As a result, in 2010 the share of consumption in their GDP had reached 81.6 percent.