The Changing Shape of the Bric, or Is It Brics, or Maybe E-Bricks?
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The Changing shape of the BRIC, or is it BRICS, or maybe E-BRICKS?
Keith Puckett
MGT 3820-002
Professor Thornton
April 15, 2013
Much has changed in the global economy since the 2001 paper titled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs,” was published by Jim O’Neill, an economist for Goldman Sachs. The housing bubble in the United States for instance, sent shock waves throughout the worlds developed and developing economies. The then identified emerging economies of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have all seen periods of high growth, then contraction, followed by expansion. The name “BRIC” was originally just a descriptor, designed to help understand the group of emerging countries that could not then and cannot today be ignored as growing, global economic powers. It is apparent that Goldman Sachs did not intend for the countries that form the acronym of BRIC to become a trading block or even a political block. O’Neill did intend for the use of the acronym to help describe the similarities in the development of each of these countries’ economies, in spite of their different cultural and political environments. Nevertheless, the BRIC countries have formed the basis of a real and growing power block that will have increasing influence globally. So important is this group to the world economy that is has been noted that the “share of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies in world GDP has risen to 26.5 per cent in 2012 from only 16.4 per cent in 2000” ("BRICs must realign their economies," 2013). The block will expand and become more influential in the global scene because, emerging economies are a significant proportion of the world’s population, economic growth in emerging countries is the fastest growth globally, and emerging countries are wielding greater political strength. However, do these countries have the cohesiveness to become a custom market, or some other form of economically or politically integrated group?
In 2001,...
