Monday, September 21, 2009

Today's new word: plutonomy

Analysts at Citigroup have coined a new term for this phenomenon: plutonomies. Ajay Kapur, Citigroup's head of global equity strategy in New York, has identified three countries - the US, Britain and Canada - that he calls plutonomies, where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few.

Plutonomies are nothing new: they occurred before in 16th century Spain, 17th century Holland, and the Roaring Twenties in the US.

"Asset booms, a rising profit share and favourable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper and become a greater share of the economy in the plutonomy countries," says Kapur in a recent strategy update.

Source

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