By Ajaypal Banga
The world moves on different wavelengths. Some are high-frequency shocks — wars, emerging technologies, market panics — that spike quickly and dominate our attention. Others are low-frequency forces that move slowly but relentlessly: demographics, globalisation, water and food scarcity.
The high-frequency waves feel urgent. The low-frequency waves reshape the system.
That is not to say crises don’t matter. But we cannot become casualties of the slow burn simply because the immediate crisis burns hotter or dominates more headlines. Ignore the slow burn long enough, and it becomes an inferno.
One of those forces is already in motion. Over the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion young people in developing countries will come of working age — a scale the world has never seen. On current trajectories, these economies are expected to…
