Michael Spence of the Berggruen Institute joined HuffPost Live at Davos on Friday to talk about the "unpredictable" nature of countries going through major economic changes.
"What is not surprising is that when you make a big change in the way things are organized, there's a lot of bumps along the road until you find a new path," Spence said.
Spence gave the example of Eastern Europe, which "experienced what is commonly called a 'lost decade'" after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"Now they're basically thriving," Spence said.
Spence then speculated on changes in the Middle East.
"I think an optimistic view would be, there will be a lot of pushing and shoving and figuring it where one wants to be, and it will take a few years, but the Middle East and Africa will come out of this," Spence said.
Watch Spence's interview above, and see more updates from Davos below:
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