In the decade before the financial crisis, world economic growth was 4.2 per cent. In the aftermath it declined to 3.2 per cent and a recent International Monetary Fund analysis predicted that it will stay stuck at this lower pace. In the short-term, prospects are improving in developed economies, but these positive signs are offset by a slowdown in emerging markets.
This is pretty disappointing. Concerns about inequality, low earning power and high unemployment among the young in many developed countries are politically toxic. There are signs of disillusionment with previously dominant political parties in Britain and abroad.