The Economics of Developing and Emerging Markets

This chapter paints a broad picture of the current state of economic development. Section 1.2 provides a brief overview of the World Bank classification in global regions. Section 1.3 discusses the importance of countries in terms of (agricultural) land area and population. Section 1.4 does the same for income levels and evaluates the differences between domestic product and national income. This section also points out the importance of correcting for price differences when comparing income levels between countries. On that basis, section 1.5 analyzes the differences in income per capita in more detail for a large range of countries. Section 1.6 briefly reviews trade flows of goods and services and evaluates the size of imports relative to exports. Section 1.7 provides an overview of the range of issues which are important for determining the global competitiveness of a country. Section 1.8 concludes.