4 I shall start by briefly discussing different aspects of these changes, and then focus on the most critical development, the rise of Asia, especially the rise of China. The title of this conference, the first of the Bernanke era, also reflects what a long way this premiere international economic conference has come.
In 1980, the theme of the conference was “Future Sources of Loanable Funds for Agricultural Banks”. This year it is about the economic future of the world. I. The changing global economic geography  There are several ways of describing the phenomenon of the change in the locus of global economic activity.