Ignore the words of investing’s greatest brand marketeer at your peril. The man who gave us emerging markets now suggests that the linchpin of growth in the world is moving back to the developed world. The implications are profound.

Antoine van Agtmael, for many years an official of the International Finance Corporation, coined the term “emerging markets” in 1982. He wanted to foster equity investing in the developing world, and end a dangerous addiction to debt.

His proposed response was for the IFC to sponsor the first ever emerging markets equity fund. Most investors, even at large institutions, lacked the resources to hunt bargains in distant markets. But a diversified portfolio of stocks from across the emerging world might solve this problem.