Despite the pessimism that reigns in many high-income economies since the financial meltdown of 2008-2009, for most of the developing world the outlook is much rosier. In the 2000s, as many as 88 emerging and developing economies were growing at least twice as fast as advanced economies. This positive development characterized by improved fiscal and monetary management has been defined by OECD (2010) as Shifting Wealth, referring to the shift in the centre of economic gravity from West to East and from North to South characterizing the global economy since the beginning of the 2000s. This article discusses the risks and opportunities to Least Developed Countries posed by Shifting Wealth including buoyancy in commodity prices, access to global value chains and competition in international markets.

Andrew Mold; Annalisa Prizzon