Poles of development shifting East

[Devrim]

I thought this was interesting. It's a piece about the most economically vibrant cities in the world.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/22/china-best-performing-economic-cities

From the top nine (for some reason it doesn't give the 10th in the list, all except one, Dubai, are in China or Turkey.

Indeed when I saw this piece in the Turkish press yesterday, I didn't quite believe it, and searched for the force to check it was true, and not just some mad Turkish nationalist fantasy, three of the top four (and four of the top nine) in Turkey.

I think it's quite indicative of the economic shift to the East.

Devrim

[ckaihatsu]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Share_of_World_GDP_PPP_2014%2C_IMF.png/370px-Share_of_World_GDP_PPP_2014%2C_IMF.png


And:


List of countries by real GDP growth rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_GDP_growth_rate

[RedAnarchist]

At one time the pole of economic development was much further to the East than it is today (the influence of China and the Silk Road being major factors in why this was), but as Europeans invaded and colonised the world in order to grow their ill-gotten empires, the pole shifted to the West.

http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/djv/world_economic_center/blob/master/20120630_wom941.png
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ecg.jpg

[bricolage]

Although looking at this just in terms of one year is limited because it doesn't tell us much about which cities are seeing sustainable economic growth and which ones are experiencing short term booms.

[DOOM]

Let's not forget that the chinese industry completely depends on exports and thus on the buying power of western nations. I remember how China got hit by a recession during the global financial crisis and how the GDP-growth fell. They "solved" the problem by running into debts.

[Redistribute the Rep]

Can't wait to see the right wing reactions about the impending fall of the west due to (homosexuality/abortion/insert anything completely unrelated but vaguely left wing here)

[ckaihatsu]

Let's not forget that the chinese industry completely depends on exports and thus on the buying power of western nations. I remember how China got hit by a recession during the global financial crisis and how the GDP-growth fell. They "solved" the problem by running into debts.


So the West got its centuries-old wish of opening up China, and it *still* doesn't help the economy, because we're back to stagnation and the brink of global implosion.