World's Economy Is Bigger—and More Open—Than Ever Before

In a little white-walled Spanish-style cottage overlooking a spectacular beach in Nicaragua, I presented to a small group of investors. I shocked them by saying this: The world's economy is twice the size it was a decade ago.

Think about that. Despite all the bad stuff that has gone down in recent years—including a big financial crisis and the ensuing recession—the global economy is nearly double what it was only 10 years ago!

Living in the United States (or Europe or Japan), one might wonder how that could be. Obviously, these economies didn't grow that much. Instead, most of the action is beyond the borders of these mature economies, which has a lot to do with why I was in Nicaragua in the first place.