Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Carpe Diem Exclusive
The chart above was created using the Forbes annual rankings of world billionaires (data are available here, here, here, here and here). In 2008, for the first time in history, the percentage of the richest 100 world billionaires in emerging markets (37 out of 100, or 37%) is greater than the percentage of the top 100 billionaires in the U.S. (32 out of 100, or 32%).
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
8 Comments:
If those billions are in dollars the ones in emerging market are getting richer by just holding their own currency.
I'd be interested in knowing more about how all of the emerging market billionaires have accumulated their wealth. Have they earned it (a la Gates, Buffett, and the Waltons in the US) or have they acquired by legal plunder, rent seeking, etc. (think Carlos Slim).
That's probably because, despite the whining of the US left about "income inequality", wealth in "emerging markets" is much more concentrated than it is in the US, and is much more likely to have been obtained through unsavory or corrupt (by US standards) means.
Beyond Sam Walton, it's been all inheritance and thuggery via unionbusting groups. It is no different to have folks like The Burke Group(or even well trained internal management on call) throw propaganda up and threaten by means that are far worse. That is what they do should you say the "U word" and management wants to call up The Jet.
You might want to divide up "Sam Walton run Wal-Mart" versus the era after his death. It would put that company in both categories (from an honest job by Sam to legal plunder by his children via massive unionbusting).
Sam built it, and his children betray it - in a way quite similar to Benedict Arnold.
Might also consider 2 other things - taxation & economic growth.
While you can certainly get the Carlos Slims & the Russian oligarchs, consider the economic growth in countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea. Despite the cronies like Slim, Mexico is not producing the vast majority of millionaires...these folks are coming out of the Asian Tiger economies.
The U.S. economy produced a staggering # of multi-millionaires during the Gilded Age when taxes were low and the economy was rapidly expanding. Not everything was perfect by any means in the age of Vanderbilt & Pullman.
The suggestion that any non-American who becomes a multi-millionaire must be a crook seems singularly odious. Who do you think is making semi-conductors, compact fluorescent light bulbs, electronic equipment, solar panels, LED light bulbs?
Multinationals are now as likely to come from other countries around the world as the U.S. Samsung, Toyota, Toshiba, Honda, Mitsubishi, Tata Motors...these companies which make perfectly legal products and they are headed by people who are well paid just like they are in the U.S.
The suggestion that any non-American who becomes a multi-millionaire must be a crook seems singularly odious.
You're the only one who made this suggestion. I think--Perry might know better than I would--that India is producing some entrepreneurial fortunes. Conversely, there are also rent seeking leeches in the US--ADM comes to mind.
Anon. 3:50
"much more likely to have been acquired through unsavory or corrupt standards"
"acquired by legal plunder, rent seeking, etc. (think Carlos Slim)"
The above descriptions are not suggestive of honesty, technological and process innovations, or entrepreneurial excellence. Becoming a multi-millionaire is not a matter of luck, men like Warren Buffet are exceptional.
Can any investor be Warren Buffet? Can any engineer be a Nicola Tesla? Can any high school drop out end up with a PhD and a Nobel prize like Norman Borlaug? There is a very small percentage of the population that is extraordinary which exercises a greater influence over our society than we care to acknowledge. Most of us are ordinary by comparison.
We may all be equal but we are not all equivalent in abilities.
4:55
Your first quote--the one about corrupt practices--is not mine. If you have a beef about that quote, take it up with the person who wrote it.
The second one is mine. It was part of a question I posed, not an assertion I made. Saying, as I did, that "I'd be interested in knowing more ..." is a far cry
from making the "suggestion that any non-American who becomes a multi-millionaire must be a crook." Simply put, there were many names I didn't recognize on the billionaire list so I was hoping someone might give me some info. Instead of providing info, you hurl accusations.
This my last word on the matter.
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