( CNN ) -- When the Burj Khalifa officially opened in Dubai on Monday , much of the world press noted the irony of the world 's tallest building unveiled just weeks after the emirate 's debt crash . But a look at the history of record-breaking skyscrapers and business cycles suggests otherwise -- the opening of every single `` world 's tallest '' building in the past century has coincided with an economic downturn . One person who was n't surprised by the economic woes greeting the dedication of the Burj Khalifa ( renamed Monday from Burj Dubai in honor of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi , which recently threw Dubai a $ 10 billion lifeline ) was Auburn University economist Mark Thornton . He predicted tough times for the emirate two years ago in a blog entitled `` New Record Skyscraper ( and depression ? ) in the making . '' He noted that economic depression or stock market collapse usually occurs prior to completion of such skyscrapers . `` Maybe the economic damage will be confined to the UAE , '' he wrote in his post on August 7 , 2007 -- the summer in the United States when subprime mortgage defaults started to rise , auguring the start of the Great Recession . The opening of these epic edifices is a strikingly reliable indicator of a business downturn : . * The 186-meter Singer building opened in New York in the wake of the market panic of 1907 . * The Empire State Building opened in 1931 , taking the mantle of world 's tallest building briefly held by 40 Wall Street and Chrysler Buildings . All of these New York buildings were conceived before the 1929 Crash , and opened after the Great Depression had begun . * The two towers of the World Trade Center were opened in 1972 and 1973 , and the Sears Tower ( since renamed Willis Tower ) opened in 1974 -- when the U.S. was mired in `` stagflation '' of growing unemployment and inflation . * Petronas Towers opened in 1998 in Malaysia , just as the Asia Financial Crisis was sweeping through the region . This correlation was first noticed by market analyst Christofer Rathke , who while based in Tokyo in the 1980s noticed the spate of building huge building projects in Japan just as its economic bubble burst . `` It seemed strikingly similar to what happened during the building of the Chrysler Building in New York , '' he said . Digging deeper , he found that long-running bull markets always preceded the building of these tall structures . In 1999 , Hong Kong-based analyst Andrew Lawrence wrote a widely read research paper called `` The Skyscraper Index '' which furthered the argument that super-tall buildings augur bad times . The index has been treated as a novelty indicator -- much like the Super Bowl index ( if a team from the NFC division wins , U.S. stock markets on average finish the year ahead ) , Thornton said . But Thornton argues in his 2005 research paper , `` Skyscrapers and Business Cycles , '' that the correlation is real : Skyscrapers are a physical manifestation of the bull markets that build them . `` It has all the components that are involved in a major boom or bust cycle , '' Thornton said . The components that give rise to the skyscrapers give rise to the boom : loose monetary policy and easy credit drive up land prices , `` and people want to build higher to offset that , '' he said . `` You have easy credit and low interest rates fueling stock prices , and this creates an overly speculative market place . `` Monetary inflation and credit tends to increase the size of companies , who grow from local , regional to an international presence '' -- creating both the wealth to build and the customer demand , Thornton said . And , of course , rising wealth inflates egos . `` There is an issue of vanity -- people want to build something a little higher , and ( customers ) want to locate in those prestigious places , '' Thornton said . `` It definitely improves the value of your business card . '' The skyscraper correlation is `` has a very polarizing effect on people '' in the tall building industry , said Steve Watts , a partner with Davis Langdon & Seah international and co-chair of economics committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat , the international body which officially ranks the world 's highest structures . `` It annoys a lot of people , but I personally think that the economics the theory is based on is sound , '' he said . However , Watts points out that the economic life of iconic structures outlasts the boom times that created them and the bust that follows . `` Compared to a 10-story office block , which probably has a life cycle of 20 years , some of these towers have lifecycles of 70 years or more , '' he said . The past decade since the completion of the Petronas Towers `` has been a period of time for unprecedented success of tall buildings , '' he said , but with the ribbon-cutting of the Burj Khalifa and the economic downturn , he believes the go-go times in the high-rise race are over -- for now . `` My personal view is it will be a while before you 'll see any other building built that beats the Burj , '' he said . If the skyscraper effect is true , that could be good news for the world economy .
The opening of every single `` world 's tallest '' building in the past century has coincided with an economic downturn . The Burj Khalifa opened just weeks after Dubai had to receive a $ 10 billion bailout . Some researchers say skyscrapers are a physical manifestation of a boom and bust cycle in business .