Neologism is the name for a newly
coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common
use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. - Wiki
BRIC: Unless you
have been hiding beneath one, you have heard of BRIC. For financial neologists, BRIC was the first major hit, a grouping of the major emerging economies of
Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Four markets that are radically different
in terms of size, potential, key drivers, and even market structures. It
required someone with Goldman Sachs standing to pour them into a bucket and
call them the collective driver of the global economy in the 21st century.
13 years after the term was coined all the four economies are charting different growth trajectories with challenges that are unique and immense – from China’s potential bubbles, and India’s twin deficits/poor governance to Russia’s Putinarchy that managed to convert a commodity-driven healthy surplus to a widening deficit, and then there’s Brazil.
13 years after the term was coined all the four economies are charting different growth trajectories with challenges that are unique and immense – from China’s potential bubbles, and India’s twin deficits/poor governance to Russia’s Putinarchy that managed to convert a commodity-driven healthy surplus to a widening deficit, and then there’s Brazil.
BRICS: = BRIC +
South Africa. Hey, we never thought of South Africa (we never thought of Africa
to be precise), when we coined the acronym. Want more representation? BRICS, it is.
PIGS: Now, that’s
a smart one, even though animal rights activists might have a problem with it. It
refers to the financially mismanaged grouping of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain –
countries with tottering economies even while they were ambulanced into the EU. These
are the same babies that almost pushed the euro zone into a near-collapse and
the painful bail-outs.
Like the BRIC, this neologism is also open to manipulation on a long-enough time-scale. Ireland came into the picture by (a) replacing Italy or (b) as an extra I a la PIIGS. This even became PIIGGS, by adding Great Britain to the trash can. Portugal's Economy Minister Manuel Pinho was deeply offended that anyone would label his country with this term – as in, how can you call a spade a sty?
Like the BRIC, this neologism is also open to manipulation on a long-enough time-scale. Ireland came into the picture by (a) replacing Italy or (b) as an extra I a la PIIGS. This even became PIIGGS, by adding Great Britain to the trash can. Portugal's Economy Minister Manuel Pinho was deeply offended that anyone would label his country with this term – as in, how can you call a spade a sty?
PIGSHIT: Potential
combination for the original PIGS + Hungary, Ireland, and Turkey. This is not used, as of today, but someone will think of it someday.
CIVETS: Another
grouping of emerging markets, this one refers to Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Egypt, Turkey and South Africa. Why the term? Apparently, the Civet is a nocturnal mammal that
has this unique penchant for eating coffee cherries and then crapping them out as
transformed coffee beans (after digesting the flesh), which are then used to
make the much-acclaimed “fox-dung coffee”. And no, I did not brew that one up. But, I am yet to get the comparison that
Michael Geoghegan had in mind when he referred to these diverse economies as civets.
MINT: Mexico,
Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. Fidelity came up with this one. These 4
countries are also on the list of the Next Eleven countries (more on that interesting
species in a while). “All have very favorable demographics for at least the
next 20 years, and their economic prospects are interesting”, according to the
guy who propagated this term.
MIKT: Miffed with
MINT? Check out MIKT. Take out Nigeria from MINT and then add South Korea, the output is called MIKT. Nigerians
went so livid when they were left out of this one. My concern was mostly with
the use of K in South Korea for the
acronym. I would have batted for MIST, by using the logical S in South Korea. And then add Oman to the
list to make it MOIST! (The crowd would have gone wet!)
Oman is a very important country for neologisms, as I will demonstrate later on. The rule of thumb for neologism is to make the acronym attractive – which country you chose does not matter – you can add or delete, when the timing is just right.
Oman is a very important country for neologisms, as I will demonstrate later on. The rule of thumb for neologism is to make the acronym attractive – which country you chose does not matter – you can add or delete, when the timing is just right.
E7: No, it’s not a listing of Euro zone countries. E is for Emerging.
The E7 includes BRIC + Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey. Nigeria still continues to be pissed, and this time they have the South Koreans and South Africans for company. You cannot blame smarting South Africans for thinking they were at the forefront of emerging markets after they were attached to the big one - BRIC with a capital S?
The Next Eleven (N-11):
Bangladesh (29),
Egypt (34), Indonesia (77), Iran (37), Mexico (97), Nigeria (16), Pakistan (13), the Philippines (60),
Turkey (86), South Korea (157), and Vietnam (98).
Goldman Sachs (same guys who came up with BRIC) came up with this one too in 2005. BEIIMNPPTKV would have been tough to
pull off, so they stuck to N-11.
Wiki says “The criteria that Goldman Sachs used were macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies, and the quality of education.” Really? Btw, the numbers in parentheses are the 2013 rankings according to the Failed States Index maintained by the United States think-tank, Fund for Peace. Out of 178 countries, the N-11 has four of them in the worst category (Alert), six in the next to worse category (Warning), and one in the stable category. The Failed State ranking is based on social, economic, and political indicators. Tell me what were the N-11 formulators smoking?
Wiki says “The criteria that Goldman Sachs used were macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies, and the quality of education.” Really? Btw, the numbers in parentheses are the 2013 rankings according to the Failed States Index maintained by the United States think-tank, Fund for Peace. Out of 178 countries, the N-11 has four of them in the worst category (Alert), six in the next to worse category (Warning), and one in the stable category. The Failed State ranking is based on social, economic, and political indicators. Tell me what were the N-11 formulators smoking?
The lists go on: Four Asian Tigers, Tiger Cub Economies, Gx,
and so on and so forth. Let’s just wind up with an interesting play that might take
the ticker headlines away from emerging markets, unless they have done so already. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome
the…….
Frontier Markets:
A fad, way below the standing of grandiose emerging markets, these are countries which could potentially witness the inflow of hot funds in the next few years. Includes countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Cyprus (yes!), Mongolia (micro-base effect),
Malta, Côte d'Ivoire, Macedonia, Botswana etc.. Exotic stuff, like Elbonia!
I use Scott Adams' work without permission. I don't think he would care.
As a parting note, try the latest neologism:
ARSEHOLE: It includes Afghanistan,
Rwanda, Somalia*, Egypt, Haiti, Oman^, Libya, and Eritrea. This
one was coined on February 9, 2014. These are economies that (a) have been so oversold
that there’s no downside left (as in shit has already hit the floor) or (b) have never been sold/bought because there
are no exchanges (so we do not know their intrinsic value).
^Oman is an outlier that was added to the list as it is the only country to have a name that starts with the alphabet O – a very useful alphabet for neologisms.
*Sudan, Syria, and South Sudan were strong contenders, but there is only one S possible in the acronym, unless of course, you make it plural. Get it? You neologist financial engineering a*******s?
^Oman is an outlier that was added to the list as it is the only country to have a name that starts with the alphabet O – a very useful alphabet for neologisms.
*Sudan, Syria, and South Sudan were strong contenders, but there is only one S possible in the acronym, unless of course, you make it plural. Get it? You neologist financial engineering a*******s?
