Being a researcher can be tough. Prof. Rolf Tarrach, President of the University of Luxembourg, explains why researchers of today prefer working on common instead of path-breaking tasks, although innovative and completely new breakthroughs would be more exciting.
The times are over which were classified as more liberty and less government. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, explains why the world might need more multinational institutions to meet multinational demands and the structural changes needed. This Keynote Address was recorded for the 40th St. Gallen Symposium where she was unable to participate physically due to the market turmoil around the globe.
Dr Justin Gest, Harvard College Fellow, explains why bankruptcy laws, tax breaks and social safety nets might be the matter of innovation since they foster savvy calculated risk taking. What would happen if these nets were removed?
There are various risks that stress firms. How are these risks interdependently related to each other? And why does every risk, a company has to face, eventually lead into a liquidity risk? Frank Wendt explains the dimensions of liquidity risk and its impact on the performance of a business.
What are the consequences of underestimating risks that people are willing to take and of overestimating risks in situations that cannot be controlled? How shall markets allocate efficiently when confronted with this behavioural pattern? The recent financial crisis and its still dramatic aftermath have shown exactly this dilemma. With these thoughts in mind, Joyce Meng reflects on the recent regulations of markets throughout the world.
Since national debts are constantly rising and the latest rating downgrades seen in Europe or in the United States of America, one must notice, that government bonds are no longer the safest option. These altered circumstances require a re-thinking of asset management. Dr oec.HSG Steffen Tolle, Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers, and co-author Patrik Rüthemann, CFA of Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers, explain, why investing in equities might be the more suitable option for a long-term investor and why government bonds might only be second class choice.
Risk is less risky than danger is dangerous. Yet, where is the difference between risk and danger? Manouchehr Shamsrizi explains his opinion, where risk comes from and why safety is an unreachable setting in today's world.
How do we navigate in this incredibly complicated world successfully and responsibly? Robert Dudley explains the point of view of BP in describing and managing risks. Furthermore, he describes the variety of risks that exists. Risk management for him means
having a plan about all the things that could go wrong and understanding low probability – high consequence events.
We view the world as being in the second stage of a many-acts theatre drama. The indebtedness of developed economies is growing at a completely unsustainable rate and, in addition, prevents adequate fighting of the recession as should be done. Most of the measures taken until now have been misguided or insufficient. Enormous amounts of liquidity are in search of return in a world of quasi-absolute zero interest rates of short-term bonds. This creates fast developing bubbles followed by instabilities.
Even in places like North Korea, where information is scarce and institutions are weak, stepping out of the box and taking creative approaches to the 3 Ms of risk can go a long way. Geoffrey Kok Heng See describes, how he was involved in developing the financial sector in North Korea.