As policymakers in poor countries contemplate the challenges facing their countries after decades of misguided strategies, they should respond with optimism rather than despair. Many opportunities lie ahead in an increasingly globalized world.

In the aftermath of the recent global recession, former World Bank president Robert Zoellick described the new economic landscape:

These words herald the opening of important opportunities for low-income countries in today’s rapidly evolving world economy. During this century a burst of convergence has occurred as developing countries have grown more quickly than high-income countries and emerging market economies have become the new growth poles. In the 1980s and 1990s, except for China, the top five contributors to global growth were the advanced economies of the G7. But from 2000 to 2009, except for the United States, all the top contributors were emerging market economies, and China was the top contributor (Figure 11.1). This trend is being reinforced in the aftermath of the 2007–9 global crisis, with developing countries as a group growing more than twice as rapidly as high-income countries.