Abstract:

If the pundits are to be believed, China and India will rank as the world's first and second largest economies by the middle of this century, surpassing those of the United States and Japan. But surprising as this may seem to some, it merely marks their return to positions they enjoyed for centuries prior to the industrial revolution in the late 18th century. Over the next fifteen years, according to the EIU's Foresight 2020 report, more than half the growth in the world's GDP will come from China (27%), the United States (16%) and India (12%). They are, by any definition, the economic powerhouses of the global economy.