With the British Industrial Revolution, part of the world's population started to experience extraordinary economic growth - leading to enormous gaps in wealth and living standards between the industrialised West and the rest of the world. This pattern of divergence reversed after World War II, and now we are midway through a century of high and accelerating growth in the developing world and a new convergence with the advanced countries - a trend that is set to reshape the world. Michael Spence explains what happened to cause this dramatic shift in the prospects of the five billion people who live in developing countries. He clearly and boldly describes what's at stake for all of us as he looks ahead to how the global economy will develop over the next fifty years.
