Emerging markets: spreadi ng its wings

The term 'emerging markets' dates back to 1981, an eventful year that saw Ronald Reagan take office ...

The term 'emerging markets' dates back to 1981, an eventful year that saw Ronald Reagan take office as the 40th President of the United States, Pope John Paul II survive an assassination attempt and Video Killed the Radio Star launch MTV. A development that, unsurprisingly, did not generate quite as many headlines was the coining of the term 'emerging market' by Antoine W van Agtmael, economist at the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank. While a broad and generally accepted definition of an emerging market has remained unchanged since van Agtmael first introduced the...