For more than 3,000 years, China and India accounted for half of the world's economic output. But then the Industrial Revolution gave North America and Europe 150 golden years. If you take the long-term perspective, our economic dominance has been more of an exception than the rule.

Debt is not intrinsically bad. But I make clear to my children that they should only borrow as much as they will be able to pay back.

The heads of leading American universities say that if they selected applicants based on grades alone, their student bodies would be 100 percent Asian.

Asia has an army of low-wage laborers to thank for its economic boom.

The problem with our Blackberry society is that hardly anyone has time anymore to have an unhurried discussion about the long-term developments that will change our lives.

It's completely legitimate for a company to continue striving for growth and higher profits. But business activities have to be conducted in a sustainable manner.

Enormous forces are affecting the world, and we can't possibly overestimate their importance. These include demographic developments, climate change, digitalization and the rise of Asia. And then there's the most important one: the end of a life lived on credit. We must finally free ourselves from debt.