Changes in Economic Power: Global Economic Growth from 2000 to 2017

Abstract

This chapter offers a cross-country analysis based on changes in the rates of economic growth for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2017. The methodology applied here approaches the measurement of economic growth in relative terms and it is based on two coefficients, introduced initially by the author of this book, a growth coefficient (Cg) and a national income coefficient (Cni). In first seventeen years of this century, the US has held the leading economic position in the world. However, the country’s share in creating world GDP fell by almost 3%, while China’s share nearly tripled (measured in constant 2010 USD). From 2000 to 2010, almost all advanced countries have seen their shares fall, while China, India, Turkey, and Indonesia saw their shares in world GDP creation increase. The average GDP per capita for the top 10% of economies was close to 640% of the world GDP per capita, while the average for the poorest 10% was just 4.9% of the world average. The ratio between the two groups was therefore 131:1. By the end of 2017, this gap was narrowed to 111 times. This chapter ends with an analysis of the ratio of change in credit activity on a per capita basis to the change in GDP per capita for 43 BIS reporting countries.