Developing Nations Pursue Risky Bets on High-Tech and Hubs in Fraught Race to Get Rich
-
Many developing countries like India, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia have extremely ambitious economic growth targets for 2050, aiming to become rich through manufacturing and diversification.
-
However, the old pathways to rapid industrialization and export-led growth seem increasingly difficult, as manufacturing relies more on skills and capital than cheap labor.
-
Countries are trying new high-risk, high-cost strategies leapfrogging to high-tech manufacturing, exploiting green metals, and reinventing themselves as trade and business hubs.
-
Governments are intervening much more actively in picking winners, with huge sums invested in infrastructure, subsidies, and industrial parks.
-
If these bets fail, many countries lack the fiscal space for a second attempt at development, raising the stakes of the "race to get rich" in the 21st century.