THE POST-CRISIS WORLD: THE WORLD ECONOMY IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT FINANCIAL DOWNTURN

Abstract

The great financial crisis of 2008/2009 precipitated substantial changes in the world economy, national economies and the world balance of power. Economists coined the term “the new normal” to describe the post crisis world. The new world order will be characterized by increased state intervention, a recession generation, the disconnect between the fate of big companies and labor, the end of upward social mobility, increased state capitalism, changes to the process of globalization and the growing influence of international capital on national economies. Advanced economies will undergo a period of economic stagnation whereas emerging economies will grow at a much faster pace. As a result, the world balance of power will change. Western countries will lose their influence as their share of the world economy will diminish. A new multi-polar world will be created in which Western economic rules and values will no longer be emulated. Free market capitalism, human rights and democracy will be weakened.