What Is an Emerging Market Economy? : Acronyms or Attributes

Abstract

It is not clear to anyone exactly what an emerging market economy is but we try to explain it. In this paper, we carry out a literature survey of the acronyms commonly used to describe emerging market economies. After reviewing the acronyms and their origins, we surmise that they are of very little practical significance to businesses. We argue that emerging market economies have a number of common attributes. Moreover, it is these distinguishing attributes rather than the common acronyms, that practicing businessmen need to be aware of if they wish to be successful in emerging market economies.