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I wonder how they measured GDP way back when. I mean without curency exchanges how did they convert from wampum?:roll Wampum = Indian money...(American Indian money that is) :)
T V Parasuram in Washington | October 28, 2003 09:02 IST
Last Updated: October 28, 2003 09:35 IST
By the year 2050, India is projected to become the third largest economy in the world, behind China and the United States, in that order, according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs.
China, India, Russia and Brazil could outrank the combined economic might of today's Group of Six -- the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the UK -- by the middle of this century, says the report quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
"The implication is that the economic and financial power is going to shift away from us," says Dominic Wilson, a senior Goldman economist and one of the authors of the report, which sees the US as No. 2 by the year 2050, sandwiched between China and India.
In making its forecasts, Goldman doesn't focus on the four developing nations' current economic-growth rates, even though these certainly haven't been too shabby. Instead, using demographic projections and a model of capital accumulation and productivity trends, it calculates likely gains in gross domestic product and income per capita, and currency movements.
Over the next 50 years, the model assumes that GDP will rise at an average annual clip of 3.8 per cent in Brazil, nearly 6 per cent in India, 4.7 per cent in China, and 3.2 per cent in Russia, versus the US' projected 1.7 per cent. It also assumes that the value of the four nations' currencies will rise.
For America, the report says, the news isn't all bad. Although the US would cease to be the most dominant single force in the global economy, it would reap trade benefits from the new megapowers' hefty gains in spending on goods and services.
Although these nations, particularly China, are often viewed mainly as competitors to the US, "probably more important in the long run is that these are economies that are going to be generating a substantial part of the world's demand growth," Wilson says.
The four nations have a projected GDP of $2.75 trillion for this year, versus the G-6's $21.25 trillion, but the report reckons that in another five years, the annual increase in spending from these economies could be greater than that from the G-6 and more than twice as much in dollar terms as it is now.
By 2010, the annual increase in spending from the four economies could reach $521 billion, versus the current $159 billion.
To be sure, the forecast assumes that China, India, Russia and Brazil "maintain policies and develop institutions that are supportive of growth."
According to Geoffrey Dennis, an emerging-market strategist at Smith Barney, China's biggest challenge is to move towards a fully free-market economy, while Russia's is to diversify away from its heavy dependence on oil and gas, while creating a consumer society.
India's biggest need, he maintains, is to raise the per-capita standard of living for its huge population, while reducing the "tremendous government interference" in its economy.
The authors acknowledge that the projections about the new economic powers aren't sure things, particularly because they assume the removal of a good number of political and structural barriers.
And indeed, they point out, it's well to remember that economic predictions frequently go awry. In the 1980s, Japan -- which later began floundering in a lengthy deflationary spiral that may still not have concluded -- was being trumpeted by some forecasters as the nation that would overtake the US by now.
Another point: "If you go back and say which have been the emerging markets people have been the most excited about, you wouldn't necessarily pick the same four" as Goldman, says Dennis.
He notes that several years ago, Mexico, Korea, some central European countries, and Argentina, were viewed as the next big things. Still, he believes the Goldman report is "conceptually correct."
Dennis acknowledges that China, India, Russia and Brazil "are growing very rapidly," although to achieve the dominance outlined in the Goldman report, they would have to expand their economies and avoid major crises.
While the Goldman economists concede that there's a good chance their projections won't be met, they say that even if they merely come close, "the implications for the pattern of growth and economic activity could be very large indeed."
In pure GDP if the Chinese continue 8% GDP growth up until 2050 their GDP will be 376% larger then it is now which is 4.5 Trillion Dollars. The only way they can be second is if Japan stays in recession for another 43 years and that aint gonna happen.
I hate these morons that claim China is going to be so powerful and how big theri economy will be but they forget that our Economys are growing.
If the US averaged 2.5% growth and China averaged 10% growth it would take over 100 years for China to catch up with us!
Claiming that thoose shit holes of countries could have more wealth is rediculus.
Economists are notoriously poor prognosticators. The projection of the US at 1.7 percent annual growth seems rather pessimistic. A 2.3 to 2.6 percent average growth rate would be more my prediction. Many of these other nations are even more vulnerable to regional conflicts and trade wars wrecking their respective economies then the US is. It is often overlooked that what is a disaster for some countries with respect to world events is merely a short sharp setback for the US due to the more diverse and worldwide nature of our economic political and military situation.
Praxus,
It doesnt say that US is gonna go down. All it says is, it would be a multi-polar world.
If you see the report, it is not just talking about GDP but also various other things along with GDP.
If USA can become a economic power in 150 years, y not China/India cannot do the same??
After all we used to be in there, its just matter of time, we'll catch up with ya'll.
No one ever said 150 years, the article said 43 years. It was completly WRONG. There is not a chance in hell they could equal Japan and US economy let alone adding to that Germany, France, UK, and Italy.
Don't be a child. I appreciate your jingoism, but then don't you think it is a wake up call?
So wake up. dont be a blinkered horse.
"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."
I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.
In pure GDP if the Chinese continue 8% GDP growth up until 2050 their GDP will be 376% larger then it is now which is 4.5 Trillion Dollars. The only way they can be second is if Japan stays in recession for another 43 years and that aint gonna happen.
China's real GDP isn't $4.5 trillion though. That's PPP. Their real GDP is $1 trillion
I hate these morons that claim China is going to be so powerful and how big theri economy will be but they forget that our Economys are growing.
Yeah, we posted 8.2% economic growth last quarter.
If the US averaged 2.5% growth and China averaged 10% growth it would take over 100 years for China to catch up with us!
No, they'd be far ahead of us using that math.
Don't forget, there are posters here from these countries.
"Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."
Used Compound Interest Calculater
US GDP 100 Years from Now at 2.5% growth: 118,137,160,000,000
Chinese GDP 100 Years from Now at 10% growth: 13,780,612,340,000,000
What's after a trillion?
OUCH, I was wrong, lol
Now more realistic one...
US GDP 25 Years from Now at 4.5% growth: 30,054,000,000,000
Chinese GDP 25 Years from Now at 6% growth: 4,291,000,000,000
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