Investors should be ready for fast-changing trends in economics, politics, and health in the year ahead
Where has 2021 gone? As we approach the end of another year that has been dominated by the pandemic, investors are looking ahead for the best route to returns.
But 2022 is set to bring some significant changes to how we manage our money and live our lives according to a new analysis from The Economist.
The publication’s team of experts includes leaders from business, politics, science, and the arts, and this year includes a special section on emerging technologies that could made a sudden impact on society – just like mRNA coronavirus vaccines have in 2021.
It’s the 36th year that The Economist has published The World Ahead and the ten themes for 2022 are:
- Politics: US midterms and China’s Communist Party Congress will both shine a light on how the very different political systems are working in terms of economic growth, innovation, and stability.
- Pandemic: COVID will move from being a pandemic to endemic in many parts of the world, largely thanks to vaccines and new treatments. Although less life-threatening for developed countries, it will pose a significant rise to emerging economies; another disease that affects the poor far more than the rich.
- Inflation: Is it transitory as central banks are keen to tell us? Or will high prices continue to impact business and consumers in the longer term?
- Future of work: From shaping the hybrid model to determine how many days working from home is the right number, to how remote workers should be taxed and monitored.
- ‘Techlash’: The backlash against big technology companies including greater regulation and more robust taxation. How far might governments go and would this impact profits?
- Crypto: It’s been a rollercoaster ride for early adopters but is 2022 the year for mainstream cryptocurrencies? With central banks getting in on the act, the report suggests a three-way fight for the future of finance - between the crypto-blockchain-DeFi crowd, more traditional technology firms and central banks - will intensify in 2022.
- Climate crunch: World powers are being forced to collaborate on the climate change crisis and decarbonisation. There will be new solutions proposed and the report authors say to keep an eye on a solar-engineering experiment due to be carried out by Harvard researchers in 2022, releasing dust from a high-altitude balloon to dim sunlight—a technique that may, at this rate, be needed to buy the world more time to decarbonise.
- Travel: Although much of the world has re-opened its borders for travellers, there are those that hope to rebuild their economies with continuing restrictions. There is also a significant – and likely enduring – drop in business travel, which has been subsidising leisure travel for decades.
- Space: Musk, Bezos, Branson, and more are hoping to dominate the space tourism market but there is also the potential for movie-making in zero gravity. At a governmental level, the space race will intensify.
- Sports: With the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the World Cup in Qatar, there is already concern about human rights records. Protests and boycotts may disrupt the smooth running of these major sporting events.
The full report is at economist.com and on newsstands from next week.
