NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, April 15, 2013

Though you may not hear it talked about much in the debates this election or see it on the front page of The New York Times, we are living through the greatest transformation in the history of modern capitalism. In the next 15 years, the number of people in the consuming class will double and, for the first time ever, emerging markets will spend more, in real numbers, than the developed economies combined.

This massive growth in consumption, which is expected to reach $30 trillion dollars by 2025, represents an economic event 100 times the size of the Industrial Revolution, driving a force 1000 times the scale. While it’s easy to picture the impact 4 billion new consumers will have on our industries and the environment, it’s more difficult to imagine what this transformation will mean for our most sacred institution: our ability to innovate.