The Global Economy: Hoping for Momentum amid Tepid Times

The global economy made progress in 2013, however restrained. Industrial output rose and unemployment eased, and stocks took a ride on a rocket. In much of the Western world, GDP inched ahead - no leaps and bounds there. And that's while we've been bathing in central bank liquidity. Now that it's time to towel off, will faint growth become no growth? Or will the inherent strength of human capital, technology and pent-up spending power generate the momentum we've been waiting for? The West, it should be noted, is where global capital flows returned to -- another side effect of the Fed and its friends moving closer to the sidelines. Indeed, the world is becoming a more complicated place to do business, with emerging markets' secular growth abating and instability wracking the Middle East as well as the Russia-Ukraine frontier. Yet Asia and Africa are still putting on economic muscle. Will flows change direction again? Will the income gap narrow and demographics exert a more powerful pull? The good old days are gone forever, but are the good new days ahead? We'll kick off the 2014 Global Conference with a group of illustrious and out-of-the-box thinkers who will explore the world economy and expound on the capital markets.