Note that Sharma is not forecasting anything like another Great Depression or even a repetition of the 2007-09 Great Recession. He’s simply predicting an extended slowdown of economic growth. “No region of the world is growing as fast as it was before 2008,” he writes, “and none should expect to.”
For the United States, Europe and other developed nations, this means that “anything over 1.5 percent [annually] should be seen as healthy,” he says. This would be a big drop for the United States. Since World War II, the American economy has usually grown each year by 3 percent or better.
Less-developed economies can still take advantage of existing technologies and under-schooled workers. Growth rates can be faster — but not as fast as before. China, Russia and Vietnam had all grown at annual rates of 7 percent or better, but that won’t continue. All in all, the world economy will slow.
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