The road to wealth? Perhaps the wealth is in the roads themselves.
Emerging nations, many now running enormous trade surpluses, are pouring capital into infrastructure: roads, ports, electrical grids, railways — construction reflected in the accompanying bond issuance chart.
China accounts for more than 40 percent of infrastructure spending (both government and private source), followed by India at 13 percent and Brazil at 5 percent. Not surprisingly, the largest infrastructure project in the world is Chinese. Now in discussion, the plan calls for a high-speed train from Beijing to London, average speed: 150 miles per hour. Think Orient Express on steroids.
