The rise of the Bric economies is hard to separate from the name of Jim O’Neill. The former Goldman Sachs chief economist deserves credit for coining the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China 10 years ago; for predicting their spectacular growth; and for boosting their importance in the minds of investors and the world at large.

Without the label, the Brics would have risen anyway, although it might have taken longer for them to establish their credentials among fund managers. Mr O’Neill denies that his invention was a marketing ploy. But it has undoubtedly been a marketing success, spawning the creation of Bric-only investment funds.

It has worked so well that Mr O’Neill, now chairman of Goldman’s asset management arm, is struggling to develop new ways of labelling what most people still call the emerging markets. He does not like the phrase, as it underestimates these countries’ economic role. How can China still be an emerging market, he asks, when it already figures so prominently among policymakers, executives and investment officers?