How should we solve our immediate problem of deciding when an economy has progressed from emerging to advanced status? Our economics team could perhaps vote each year on which economies deserved promotion or relegation. An alternative, more in tune with The Economists philosophy, could be to let the market decide. There is excess demand for a limited number of slots on our developed economies page, so these slots could be auctioned to the highest bidder. But a word of warning: promotion to a higher league is not always cause for celebration. Mexico joined the OECD in 1994, just before the “tequila” financial crisis.

정말로 이카너미스트지 선진국 지표란에 나오기를 원하는 개도국들을 대상으로 경매에 부쳐 가장 고액을 부른 국가에 줄 수도 있을 텐데 그것이 잡지사의 철학에 더 맞는 <시장 결정> 원칙이 될 수 있다는 뜻 아닐까요?