Three new structural factors underlie the latest great world crisis: (1) the incorporation of highly populated countries into the growth process; (2) The increasing scarcity of the environment and certain natural resources; (3) the dramatic concentration of wealth and income in the advanced economies over the last two decades. These structural changes have significantly tightened the links between world growth and commodity demand, made the world commodity supply increasingly inelastic, and rendered economic growth more dependent on lax monetary and financial policies, respectively. All this may make the world economy highly vulnerable to crises and may make the recovery from the current crisis more difficult.