It’s been a long time since economic forecasters have been challenged so much on what the year will bring as since the beginning of 2017. While the consensus view has long been for a gradually slowing trend in the global economy, recent developments (e.g. Brexit, the new Trump administration, tensions in the South China sea, crisis in Brazil, etc.) are creating more uncertainty to the economic outlook than at any time since the global financial crisis almost a decade ago. In this session, Bart van Ark will discuss the fundamental drivers underlying the global trend in economic growth, and distinguish between the short-term challenges (such as geopolitical tensions, policy uncertainty, and financial market volatility), and the more fundamental disruptions (including digital technology, the energy landscape, global trade and debt and deficits). It is those disruptive factors which business leaders should distill from all the noise, as those are the key factors which can change the direction of the global economy in the medium-term … for better or worse.
Bart van Ark
Van Ark is Executive Vice President, Chief Economist & Chief Strategy Officer of The Conference Board, a global research organization with its head office in New York City in the United States. He leads a team of almost two dozen economists in New York, Brussels and Beijing, who produce a range of widely watched economic indicators and growth forecasts, as well as in-depth global economic research. Van Ark is also responsible for the development of the strategy and major new initiatives of The Conference Board. Van Ark is also a Professor in Economic Development, Technological Change and Growth at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) where he has specialized in the areas of economic growth, development economics, economic history and international economics and business. He is an internally acclaimed expert in the field of international comparative productivity measurement and analysis. He is the former director of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre, a research group working on long term economic growth and productivity, of which he still is a member. Van Ark has extensively published in leading national and international journals, including the Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and Economic Policy. From 2004-2008 he has been managing editor of the Review of Income and Wealth. He is also frequently featured in major international business media, including Bloomberg, CNBC, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.
