The World's Wealthiest People. (cover story)

RICH people; BILLIONAIRES; ECONOMIC development; ECONOMIC indicators; CAPITALISM

CHINA; MEXICO

The article presents information about the hundred richest people in the world and the condition of economy in their regions. The two big openings to free enterprise this decade have come in Latin America and the Far East. Not surprisingly, the biggest clusters of new billionaires have risen from the ferment of these two regions. There are eleven new Mexican billionaires in two years and seven more ethnic Chinese. Many past Mexican administrations treated private business almost as an enemy of the state; the government enlisted the cooperation of business. As Mexico is emerging from economic underdevelopment, so is eastern Asia. Here the economic powerhouses are overseas Chinese, grown rich in southern Asia, and moving massively into Mainland China.