The world has progressed immensely in the last 100 years. Our generation is far more healthier, wealthier and informed than many earlier generations. In this era of progress, we have seen a particular human trait coming out in the form of building the tallest buildings. In the last 100 years, the USA has seen a few massive structures being built. However, since the 1990s, the activity seems to have shifted eastwards. At the same time, there has been an amazing coincidence between erection of such giant structures and the stock markets. Let us take a look at the examples of the tallest structures the world has seen – all examples pertain to structures built in the last 100 years.

In the latter half of the decade of 1920s, the construction work started for two buildings in New York – the Chrysler Band the Empire State Building. The construction was completed in 1930-31. We all know the state of the stock markets globally. July 1932 saw Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a low of 32 points. The period that followed came to be known as the Great Depression.

These two buildings remained the tallest for the next four decades. And then the record was broken, when two more buildings came up – one in New York (actually, it was two) – the twin towers of World Trade Centre (which was brought down in a heinous terrorist act in 2001) and the other in Chicago – Sears Tower (now known as Willis Tower). What followed later in 1973-74 is an event known as the Arab Oil Embargo, and the United States of America saw a big recession.

These two held on to the record for another two decades. Then, the action shifted Eastward. The 90s belonged to the fast growing Asian Tiger economies, which registered almost a double digit growth rate for the larger part of the decade. Malaysia saw the construction of a building taller than the Sears Tower of Chicago – this engineering marvel  is known as the Petronas Towers. The building became ready in 1998 – a year largely associated with the collapse of these Asian Tigers. Malaysia, in particular, was quite in the news for the wrong reasons. A hedge fund manager, George Soros, shorted the Malaysian Ringgit and became the state enemy of the country. The Asian markets saw a huge meltdown.

The building remained the tallest for more than a decade and then construction started on two more buildings – Shanghai World Financial Centre came up in 2008 and Burj Khalifa became reality in 2010. The world still seems to be licking the wounds of the meltdown we saw during that period – the so-called Sub-prime Crisis, followed by the banking crisis. Dubai is still to recover, while China seems to be quite fine.

So, should you take notice the next time you hear of the tallest building coming up anywhere?

By the way, this post is not about predicting anything. And it has no relation to a statue (even if it is the tallest). This should not be construed as a political post.

Important note: Please do not take this post seriously. It is written in the lighter vein.