Mega, Giga, Tera: Inside the Biggest Investment Boom in History

By Kanya D'Almeida, Truthout | News Analysis

Consider this: We have entered an age in which a single "mega" (million-dollar) project can easily exceed the national economy of a low-income country; a single "giga" (billion-dollar) project can outpace the earnings of a middle-income state; and a single "tera" (trillion-dollar) investment project can compare with the GDP of one of the world's top 20 richest nations.

Research reveals that we are living through the largest investment boom in human history. Oxford University's Bent Flyvbjerg, an economic geographer who specializes in mega-project planning and management, estimates global mega-project spending at between $6-9 trillion annually. This is 8 percent of the world's combined GDP.