Is the Age of America Ending?

Everyone knows China is growing rapidly, but the International Monetary Fund’s announcement that China’s economy will surpass that of the U.S. in real terms by 2016 is a bit of a shocker—just 10 years ago, the U.S. economy was three times the size of China’s.

Under Purchasing Power Parity, the Chinese economy will expand from $11.2 trillion this year to $19 trillion in 2016. Meanwhile the size of the U.S. economy will rise from $15.2 trillion to $18.8 trillion. That would take America’s share of the world output down to 17.7%, the lowest in modern times. China’s would reach 18%, and rising.