Mohamed A. El-Erian , Columnist

Five Factors That Could Mess Up Global Growth

Recent developments have exposed cracks in a seemingly happy configuration.

June 7, 2018 at 4:01 AM UTC

Mohamed A. El-Erian is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief executive officer of Pimco, he is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge; chief economic adviser at Allianz SE; and chair of Gramercy Fund Management. He is author of “The Only Game in Town.”

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This article is part of the June 11, 2018 issue of businessweek.

Brexit, tariffs, currency meltdowns in Argentina and Turkey, a China growth scare, and a financial near-implosion in Italy—to name just a few events—have surprised many policymakers, companies, and investors in the past two years. The inclination is to treat each as the product of the particular circumstances of each country; and the implication is to play a game of whack-a-mole with each.

There’s validity to such a case-by-case approach. But it risks overlooking that something deeper is going on here—a common thread, if you like. And the ramifications will be accentuated by what are now widening inequalities brought about by differing growth rates and policies in advanced economies as the U.S. increasingly outpaces other economies.