Each year the Global Risks Network - a partnership among the World Economic Forum, MMC, Citigroup, Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services, and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School Risk Center - identifies major global risks, assesses their economic impact, and recommends mitigation solutions. The findings of the Global Risks Network are captured annually in the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report.

This year's report focuses on the implications of the global financial crisis and highlights the interconnectedness of the world economy. It cautions that the responses to the crisis will have long-term implications beyond the financial sector, particularly with respect to the risks of overregulation and diminished resources to address other key risks to global economic growth such as infrastructure.

Risks that came to the forefront in the 2009 report that highlight the global economic interconnectivity include the following:

• the continued decline of asset prices across asset classes and regions,
  
  
• rising fiscal pressures driven by the recessions, bailout packages, and the already large deficits of several nations, and,
  
  
• the potential for slower growth of the Chinese economy exacerbating an already weakened global economy.
  
  

The 2009 Global Risks Report also introduces the concern about gaps in the global governance structure as a risk onto itself. Given the speed with which the financial crisis spread and the resulting global downturn, the Global Risk Network recognizes the importance of effective and inclusive governance on global issues. Specifically, the report discusses that future financial regulation must strike a balance between fixing the financial system now without impeding the innovation required, particularly in the areas of climate change, resource challenges and infrastructure, to protect against future failures.

The report cautions global business and political leaders that it would be dangerous to myopically focus on the current crisis and ignore other potential long-term crises that are bubbling under the surface. Long-term risks related to future resource challenges include declining water quality and availability; energy security; climate-change-related natural catastrophes; and chronic disease.

The Global Risk Network urges policy makers to address and understand risks in the context of the wider economic system and to consider policies that encourage long-term infrastructure investments to foster resource efficiencies, particularly for energy and water.

Register to download the Global Risks 2009 Report.