Asia is in the ascendency. By 2030 two thirds of the world’s middle-class will live in the region. Of the next one billion individuals to hit this coveted bracket, 730 million will be from either India or China.
Add another 20 years and four Asian economies will be in the world’s top five by GDP, with China leading and 150% of the size of the USA, PwC, a consultancy, estimates. The UK will have dropped to ten and fallen into relative insignificance.
There are huge barriers to this rise, however. For a nation to push past the middle-income trap, its people must believe they...