Income inequality was rising dramatically, environmental damage was worsening rapidly, and inflation was leading to weak real income growth for poor households.

Nowhere is there a credible plan to limit the concentration of wealth and power, broaden economic gains through strong real income growth for the poor, and maintain macroeconomic stability.

Real GDP growth in 2007 was 6.0 per cent.

But income growth and demographics do not explain everything.

An important victim will be Japan, where anemic real income growth is depressing domestic demand and exports to China sustain what little growth there is.

To empower the domestic market to drive income growth, and to accelerate the growth of the middle class, these numbers need to shift.

Since 1980, average real hourly compensation has increased at an annual rate of 1 , or half the rate of productivity growth. Wage gains have also become considerably more unequal, with the biggest increases claimed by the top 10 of earners.

More specifically, 77 of the cross country variation in the income growth of the poorest 40 of the population reflects differences in average income growth.

After a decade that saw wages grow faster than productivity, unit labor costs (and the real exchange rate based on those costs) appreciated sharply.

But, to get on a process of increasing income, increasing skills led to very rapid growth there.

The rapid income growth of the early Putin years is a thing of the past.

Only 11 of its China beating nominal GDP growth between 2003 and 2011 was due to growth in real (inflation adjusted) output.

The growth of gross national income (GNI) in developing countries outpaced the growth in debt in 2004, improving the total debt to income ratio for all developing countries to an estimated 35.2 per cent, down from 38.6 per cent in 2003.

1 In 2004, Guatemala reverted to real per capita GDP growth.

The rise in consumer spending was not, however, due to higher employment or faster income growth.

Besides the slow pace of poverty reduction, human development has not kept up with the pace of income growth, either.

Indeed, Pakistan s rate of economic growth is the slowest on the South Asian mainland one half that of Bangladesh and one third that of India. A sharp increase in the prices of essential commodities means that the real income of the bottom 60 of the population has declined.

The alternative is muted wage and income growth shared across the income spectrum, combined with productivity enhancing measures.

Real average weekly earnings have fallen in recent months, and are now lower than they were 18 months ago.

From the late 1970 s until 2007, the financial sector grew far more rapidly than the real economy.

Crises are typically associated with a drop not only in actual growth, but also in a country s growth potential, owing to deferred investment.

Recovery was rapid and strong, with real GDP growth averaging nearly 9 in 2010 2011.

Worst case estimates have China s real GDP growing at around 7 per year over the next decade.

From a position of 5.1 real GDP growth in 1972, the UK went into recession in 1974, with GDP falling by 1.1 .

If the real trade weighted value of the dollar falls by 25 over the coming decade, and the full effect of that dollar decline is reflected in import prices, the increased cost of imports would reduce the growth of US real incomes by about 0.4 a year.

A sharp increase in the prices of essential commodities means that the real income of the bottom 60 of the population has declined.

Not even real GDP growth at a sustained annual rate of 4 is sufficient to increase the share of American adults who have jobs.

The greater the number of girls who go to secondary school, the Bank adds, the higher the country s per capita income growth.

The attempt to restrain the growth of debt does serve to concentrate the mind it forces countries to focus on priorities and assess values.

On the contrary, the real question is why the increase in stock prices has not outpaced growth in corporate earnings.

And even a real wage increase on the national level will not undermine competitiveness if labor productivity grows still faster.

It is not clear why Abe and his advisers believe that this will deliver sustained real GDP growth of 2 a year.

Income growth and a lower household savings rate are essential to the shift in China s growth model, and each presupposes key reforms.

Efficient financial systems are supposed to promote growth in the real economy, not impose a huge tax burden.

In 2013, as transfer payments are phased out, however gradually, and as some tax cuts are allowed to expire, disposable income growth and consumption growth will slow.

Moreover, income growth has contributed to improved education. Adult literacy rates in South Asia match the global norm.

In the recovery of 2009 2010, the top 1 of US income earners captured 93 of the income growth.

In 2007, Georgia's real GDP growth rate reached 12 percent making Georgia one of the fastest growing economies in Eastern Europe.

To correct this, China needs to boost its people s sense of future financial security and affect a rise in private income commensurate with GDP growth.

But more than higher growth in income from labor will be needed to boost Chinese private consumption.

The similarities are large trade deficits, manufacturing job loss, asset price inflation, rising debt to income ratios, and detachment of wages from productivity growth.

Moreover, growth in international tourist arrivals had been faster in the developing world than in high income countries, particularly between 1990 and 2003.

After all, real per capita income in the US is about 40 higher than in France, 22 higher than in Canada, and 31 higher than in Great Britain.

The pace of real GDP growth fell from 2.4 in 2010 to 2 in the next four quarters, and then to 1.7 in 2012.

Income growth for the middle class in most advanced countries has been stagnant, and employment opportunities have been declining, especially in the tradable part of the economy.