The Age of Globalization (2000–2020): The Seeds of Instability

The Age of Globalization generated its own economic contradictions. The GFC marked an important inflection point, as the financial excesses unleashed by the crisis resulted in large scale economic inefficiency and retardation of EME income convergence processes, from the late 2010s onwards, most notably in China. The COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated these problems leaving EMEs more susceptible to adverse shocks. In fact, the current EME conjuncture appear to carry parallels with the late 1970s and the early 1980s, a period of deepening economic stagnation, imbalance and financial excess.