The rising economic power of Asian region while offering opportunities also challenges several of the current paradigms, primary one being the economic and political dominance of developed nations. It raises several other questions and concerns. Asia House had an interesting panel discussion among economists and risk analysts on Asia’s Risk Outlook in 2012.
Prof. Quah’s (LSE) research shows that the world’s Economic Centre of Gravity in 1980 was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and by 2050 would have moved a distance of 9300 km to being literally between India and China. He cautioned western economies against viewing China as a threat and pointed out that the reason for Germany’s success in an otherwise lack lustre Europe was their flourishing export to China.
Christine Shields of Standard Chartered spoke about the two-speed world where a fragile West continues with a resilient East. In the new world order, the countries that succeed will be those that have the cash, the commodities or the creativity. Kathleen Wong of Allen and Overy presented the findings of their survey of over 1000 senior executives across 19 countries. It seems that the West is accelerating the shift of economic power to the East by imposing ever heavier regulatory burdens on its banks and corporations. Further, its regulatory response to globalisation and the financial crisis is playing into the hands of more permissive regimes in high growth economies.