A New Era of World Economic Growth

This paper argues that the rate of growth of the world economy is likely to accelerate over the coming decade as a result of the impact of the new information technologies on productivity, improvements in the capacity of businesses to manage accelerating technological change, and a continuing increase in the contribution of the Asian economies to world growth. The analysis employed in the paper is to focus on four major influences on the medium term growth of industrialised economies: the macroeconomic framework, microeconomic influences, technological change, and the role of management. These influences are analysed in terms of their contribution over the past few decades, and their likely future impact. The development path of the rapidly growing Asian economies, and the role played by the diffusion of advanced technology, is explored. Finally, some long term constraints on growth associated with environmental factors and ageing populations are identified