Structural changes in the global economy The global economy has undergone significant structural changes in the last decade. Of those changes, in my view, three are most important. The first is the entry of emerging market economies into the market-based economic system. The second is the progress we have observed in information, communications, and telecommunications (ICT) technology.
The third is the aging of the population, especially in mature industrialized economies. Let me take up these developments in turn. Since the 1990s, emerging market economies--China, India, and countries in Central and Eastern Europe--have progressively been integrated into the market-based economic system.