Ever since La Fontaine and his fable Le Savetier et le Financier we have known that money does not bring happiness and causes many worries. World decision-makers, meeting in Davos January 16-20, should summon some euphoria before delving into the annual report of the annual World Economic Forum, held in the Swiss Alpine town, on the global risks threatening us.
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Launched on Wednesday January 11, this survey polls nearly 1,200 experts and decision-makers from business, government and civil society each year to find out what they think are the most important risks threatening our societies in the short-term (two years) and long-term ( ten years). For several years, the dangers of the environment and climate change have been high on the agenda.
For the first time this year, the experts have named the economic situation as the first short-term risk. Or rather, to use their terminology, “the cost of living crisis.” The end of the month comes at the end of the world, the urgent has crowded out the important. We are now talking about energy, food, inflation and security crises.
vicious circle
For the Forum’s Director General, Saadia Zahidi, the world has entered a vicious circle in which there is a risk that economic, political and social difficulties will combine. Inflation destroys purchasing power. To mitigate the impact, governments are spending and borrowing, damaging their public finances.
The crisis then becomes political, when there is no money to finance health, education or security, then social, with aggravation of inequalities and extreme polarization between rich and poor. This evil cocktail becomes even more pernicious when these difficulties combine with geopolitical tensions or even wars. The increase in military budgets weakens public funds and thus the ability to absorb shocks.
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So what’s left for the important thing? Because for the next ten years, decision-makers and experts are formal. The greatest risk that can arise is the failure of policies to limit global warming, and the second, the failure of policies to adapt to that warming. Of course, these are not forecasts, but risks that are now haunting people’s minds.
And third on the list is biodiversity loss, which ultimately leads to ecosystem collapse. American President (1953-1961) Dwight Eisenhower is credited with this aphorism, which has been studied in all management schools: “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important. In other words, we must rely on the ecological challenge to solve the economic and social crisis. That is the whole art and difficulty of politics.