A New Book by Michael Spence, Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--I doubt you will find an economist more qualified to weigh in on the changing global economy than Michael Spence. A recent article in the International Herald Tribune summarizes Spence's argument: "Globalization and the technology revolution are increasing productivity and prosperity. But those rewards are unevenly shared-they are going to the people at the top in the United States, and enriching emerging economies over all. But the American middle class is losing out." In The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World, Spence succinctly describes how the recent period of growth in developing countries is leading to a convergence with the advanced countries, or developed world.

“Globalization and the technology revolution are increasing productivity and prosperity. But those rewards are unevenly shared-they are going to the people at the top in the United States, and enriching emerging economies over all. But the American middle class is losing out.”

He lays out a framework for how the global economy will develop over the next fifty years, and offers much needed wisdom on how to sustain economic growth in advanced and developing countries.

He explores these fascinating questions:

Can we learn over time to manage something as complex as the emerging and evolving global economy, with its rising interdependencies and complexity?

What will happen to populations, incomes, natural resources, and the environment?
Is it possible for the fourfold increase in the ranks of the relatively wealthy to continue, or is there a massive multidimensional "adding up" problem in which what was possible for a "few" will not be possible for the "many"?
Is the management and governance of the global economy that was in place for the last quarter century going to work in the future, or is it going to need fundamental change?

The Next Convergence is certain to spark heated debate over how best to move forward in the post-crisis period and reset the balance between national economic interests, short-term fixes, and long-term sustainability. For more visit information www.thenextconvergence.com

Michael Spence is a former Chairman of the Independent Commission on Growth and Development, which focuses on growth in emerging economies. In 2001, Spence received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on markets with incomplete and asymmetric information.

Spence is a Senior Advisor to Oak Hill Investment Management and a consultant to PIMCO. He served as dean of the Stanford Business School from 1990 to 1999. As dean, he oversaw the finances, organization, and educational policies of the school. He is Professor Emeritus of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. As of September 2010, he is a professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University.