Thursday 15 September 2016, 12 h 30 - 14 h 00,  75007 Paris 

Chaired by Sébastien Jean, Director of the CEPII

In "Rich People Poor Countries", Caroline Freund identifies and analyses nearly 700 emerging-market billionaires whose net worth adds up to more than $2 trillion. Freund finds that these titans of industry are propelling poor countries out of their small-scale production and agricultural past and into a future of multinational industry and service-based mega firms. And more often than not, the new billionaires are using their newfound acumen to navigate the globalised economy, without necessarily relying on political connections, inheritance, or privileged access to resources. This story of emerging-market billionaires and the global businesses they create dramatically illuminates the process of industrialisation in the modern world economy. Caroline Freund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank from 2011 to 2013, after holding various positions at the World Bank, the IMF and the Fed.