Kenneth Pomeranz

New Capabilities

Professor at University of Chicago

In 1820, global economic output stood at roughly $1.2 trillion in today's dollars. By 2025, it exceeded $120 trillion—a hundredfold expansion. For the 1,800 years before 1820, total world output had grown perhaps sixfold. The past two centuries compressed more material transformation than the previous eighteen. Yet as 2026 unfolds, major economic institutions warn this growth is slowing: the 2020s are on track to be the weakest decade for global expansion since the 1960s.

Updated May 22