Emerging Markets Aren’t a Bubble, Van Agtmael Says

Emerging-market stock valuations are a “long way” from bubble levels and the shares will outperform developed markets amid faster economic growth, said Antoine van Agtmael, who coined the term “emerging markets” in 1981.

Van Agtmael, who warned of “bubbly” emerging-market stocks four weeks before the benchmark index peaked in 2007, said he doesn’t have the same concern today because valuations are below long-term averages and near those of slower-growing developed countries. Emerging economies will expand three times faster than advanced nations in the next few years, he said.