The Brave New Eastern World: CEIBS Emerging Market Classification 2017

Which emerging markets offerthe best bets for future-minded investors and CEOs? Most research shows that investors and managers that treat emerging markets as groups – and assess them according to relative performance vis-a-vis their peers -- tend to profit more than those taking a country-by-country approach. We show that emerging markets that did well yesterday usually do well tomorrow. But more importantly, our method for grouping emerging markets allows us to draw some profitable insights. For example, advanced emerging markets grow with more investment in internet access; dormant economies grow with more investment in political institutions. Our analysis also reveals a surprising finding - advanced economies possess far more growth potential than dormant economies. First ranked Estonia looks moribund compared to the extra 25% GDP growth the Republic could have achieved by implementing best-in-the-world policies. Even better, most emerging markets could have “given up” (saw reductions without GDP falling) significant internet connections, foreign direct investment or other factors – just by copying best practice.