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David M. Rubenstein is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. Mr. Rubenstein co-founded the firm in 1987. Since then,[…]

How much economic influence does China have?

Question: What does China’s ascendance mean for the world order?

Transcript:Well we have to remember of course that for 15 of the last 18 centuries, China was the largest economy in the world. In the 1700s it went down a bit, and it’s now only beginning to recover what’s regarded as its rightful position in the world. I think we have to recognize that two-thirds of the population of the world really lives in Asia or the Asian subcontinent. And in the end that population mass is so significant that the world’s economic wealth is gonna drift to that region. And I think also the world’s political power will drift to that region in time. It’s hard to believe that at the beginning of the 20th century, that the United States would have become as powerful as it ultimately became. In the year 1900, nobody would have thought the United States would have dominated the world as it did for the latter part of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 21st century, it’s obviously hard to predict what’s gonna happen in the year 2021 . . . or 2100. But it’d be my belief that by the end of this century, you will see China and India as the most important countries probably in the world.


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