When policy-makers consider global risks, they tend to extrapolate from headlines. Troubles in the eurozone could spiral out of control, conflict in Syria could spark wider unrest, the H5N1 bird-flu virus could mutate and spread from person to person in a global pandemic. Those dangers and many others are clear and present; society is well-advised to prepare for them, and takes good advice on how to do so. The World Economic Forum (WEF), for one, publishes an annual risk-assessment report.
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