12 The New World Order While gross domestic product growth is cooling a bit in emerging market economies, the results are still tremendous compared with the US and much of Western Europe.

The emerging market economies posted a 6.7 per cent jump in real GDP in 2008, down from 7.5 per cent in 2007. The advanced economies grew an estimated 1.6 per cent in 2008. The difference in growth rates represents the largest spread between emerging market economies and advanced economies in the 37-year history of the survey.

Source: Fortune, 14 July 2008 Do growth rates over the past few decades indicate that gaps in real GDP per person around the world are shrinking, growing or staying the same? Explain.