Buiter on 3G growth - it will not be

Willem Buiter, chief economist of Citibank has constructed a "3G index" to measure economic progress; 3G stands for "Global Growth Generators" and is a weighted average of six growth drivers that the Citigroup economists consider important:

1. A measure of domestic saving/ investment
2. A measure of demographic prospects
3. A measure of health
4. A measure of education
5. A measure of the quality of institutions and policies
6. A measure of trade openness

Using that index the nations to watch over the coming years are Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

It is interesting that there are no G10 countries in this list. Nothing from Eastern Europe. One oil country from Africa and no Latin American countries. The real issue is what policies are necessary to become a 3G country? Clearly all of the above countries are headed in the tight direction, but it is less clear how stable are those trajectories.