Global Risks 2016 Home

Blogs and Opinions

  • Europe’s terror threat is real. But its cities are much safer than you think

    Thursday 8th of June 2017

    The world has suffered an alarming increase in terrorism events over the past five years.

  • South Africa must resist the dangerous spiral of economic nationalism

    Monday 8th of May 2017

    South Africa faces tough choices before winter if it’s going to improve its flagging economy. Economic inequality is one of the highest in the world, GDP per capita has fallen, while youth unemployment is going up. The current economic model – consisting of a current account deficit that is higher than most of the other emerging market countries, combined with the rapidly increasing government indebtedness – is unsustainable.

  • What are the top risks to doing business in Latin America?

    Friday 31st of March 2017

    “Failure of national governance”, “unemployment” and “fiscal crises” – all prominently cited as risks by Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) business executives. As in previous years, the Global Risks Report 2017 uses data from the Executive Opinion Survey, which asks LAC executives about the risks of highest concern for doing business. The findings shed some light on the anxieties of business people throughout the region and how these differ from those of their counterparts in other parts of the world.

  • Insurance could help Latin America break the link between extreme weather and extreme poverty

    Friday 31st of March 2017

    2016 was the hottest year on record. The polar icecaps are visibly melting at an alarming pace and sea levels are starting to rise, threatening major coastal cities around the world. Resilience is on everybody’s mind and many governments are actively thinking about how to deliver on commitments made at the UN COP21 Paris conference.

  • This is how Portland is tackling homelessness

    Tuesday 28th of March 2017

    Like many American cities, Portland, Oregon, has a significant homeless population. As many as 4,000 people sleep on the streets or in shelters every night, according to the city’s housing bureau.

  • NASA has discovered 7 new planets, but what would life be like there?

    Friday 10th of March 2017

    We’ve found a new solar system, and it threatens to put our own to shame. The star Trappist-1, a mere 39 light years away, has been found to host seven Earth-sized, rocky planets.

  • The anti-obesity protein

    Friday 3rd of March 2017

    Deadly Combo

  • You might not think it, but TB remains a major problem. This is why

    Wednesday 1st of March 2017

    It surprises many people in Europe and North America that tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the great scourges in human history. One out of every three people in the world is infected with latent or sub-clinical TB, and scientists predict that 10% of them will manifest the disease as age and other illnesses compromise their immune systems. In 2015, more than ten million new cases of TB were reported, and almost two million people died from it.

  • The world is getting better – here is the proof

    Tuesday 28th of February 2017

    Bill and Melinda Gates are optimistic about the future, and they think you should be, too.

  • What natural disasters, and ostriches, can teach you about risk and decision making

    Friday 10th of February 2017

    A lack of awareness and preparation is a big part of why hurricanes, floods and other calamities leave such chaos behind. But what if we could change the way we think about risk? That’s the subject of The Ostrich Paradox: Why We Underprepare for Disasters, a new book by Wharton professors Howard Kunreuther and Robert Meyer, who co-direct the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. Kunreuther, a professor of operations, information and decisions, and Meyer, a marketing professor, stopped by [email protected] to talk about the book and their solution for helping policymakers, governments and individuals to create more prepared communities.

  • What cyber-security insiders discussed at Davos 2017

    Wednesday 8th of February 2017

    When global leaders met recently for the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, there was much talk regarding the threats to globalization from political changes in Western countries.

  • The 3 biggest threats to the EU, according to President Tusk

    Friday 3rd of February 2017

    European heads of state are gathered in Malta where they are discussing the migrant crisis and the future of the EU. The last time an EU summit was hosted in Malta, in November 2015, there were no serious projections that Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States or that a small majority of the British people would vote in favour of Brexit. The migration crisis had begun, but few could, or wanted, to imagine the scale it would reach as winter turned to spring in 2016.

  • The risks that just won’t die

    Thursday 2nd of February 2017

    One of the key findings of this year’s Global Risks Report is that inequality and polarization are now ranked in the top three as underlying drivers of global risks.

  • Does Davos always get things wrong?

    Wednesday 18th of January 2017

    Kenneth Rogoff may have been joking when he said that the conventional wisdom of Davos participants is always wrong, but even so it provides an opportunity to consider whether this is indeed the case, and if so why. It’s why we devoted a session to it this year.

  • The one global risk that won’t go away

    Thursday 12th of January 2017

    Every year the world faces new global risks.

  • Weaponized AI, digital espionage and other technology risks for 2017

    Wednesday 11th of January 2017

    Technology will continue to play a vital role in promoting global prosperity. New advances are poised to increase economic productivity, provide radical healthcare solutions and combat climate change, among other benefits.

  • Four key areas for global risks in 2017

    Wednesday 11th of January 2017

    The 2017 Global Risks Report comes at a critical moment for the world as we know it. Unprecedented forces are reshaping society, economics, politics and our planet itself in ways some might not have predicted when the first risks report was launched a decade ago.

  • When a driverless car crashes, who do you blame?

    Thursday 1st of December 2016

    Every day, our lives more closely resemble the film “Back to the Future”. Granted, our cars are not yet flying, but they are driving autonomously. Our local delivery man is being replaced by a drone. Our home, our car, and even our cities are all going “smart” or are increasingly connected to this “digital world”.

  • Scientists are turning bacteria against virus to defeat dengue and Zika

    Monday 7th of November 2016

    Mosquitoes have been described as the most dangerous animals in the world due to their role in spreading diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikugunya and yellow fever. Hundreds of millions of people are infected every year, leading to many hundreds of thousands of deaths.

  • The 4 big ethical questions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

    Monday 10th of October 2016

    We live in an age of transformative scientific powers, capable of changing the very nature of the human species and radically remaking the planet itself.

  • Forget the FTSE 500: the Arctic is the real barometer of global risk

    Tuesday 13th of September 2016

    Humans are naturally risk-averse. We try to avoid disaster zones, and don’t like to fly when there appear to be mechanical problems or heavy fog. However, often information about risk is incomplete, and sometimes we don’t even know the risks we’re taking until after the event. Even for thrill-seekers, identifying and managing risk is a prudent approach.

  • Why 9/11 reminds us we must respond to fear with openness

    Saturday 10th of September 2016

    On September 10 2001 my wife and I arrived in New York as I was to receive the Candlelight award from then-UN-Secretary-General Kofi Annan. That night we had a very inspiring conversation with Annan and many members and partners of the World Economic Forum.

  • Why should we care about cyber resilience? Because $445 billion is at stake

    Thursday 8th of September 2016

    According to a series of interviews the World Economic Forum conducted with board members from a variety of multinational corporations, cyber risk has made a drastic climb to the top of leaders’ agendas and gains significant board attention today.

  • The science of earthquake prediction – explained

    Wednesday 24th of August 2016

    Every year, earthquakes cause massive devastation and thousands of deaths, and yet we are still a long way from being able to predict when they will occur. Recent quakes in central Italy are another reminder of how suddenly and unexpectedly they can strike.

  • Is it true that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?

    Tuesday 9th of August 2016

    It may seem that wise, strong people typically have gone through a few hard times in their lives. By comparison, those who have led a very sheltered and privileged life often appear to crack more easily under pressure. But is it really true that some degree of pain and trauma can make us stronger? And if so, at what point does it destroy us?

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