Building back broader: policy pathways for an economic transformation

The highly asymmetric impact of the pandemic has reinforced historical inequalities within and between countries and is now giving rise to a highly divergent recovery. Technological change has accelerated through the crisis, contributing to additional labour market polarization. At the same time, long-term growth prospects remain subdued, following pre-crisis trends. In addition, future shocks will arise from frontier risks with unknown likelihoods and impacts for which many governments and societies are not currently well prepared. The disruptions faced by societies and the global economy today require an economic transformation of unprecedented depth and scale. This paper puts forward a set of six pathways to rapidly address these longer-term dynamics while simultaneously building preparedness for future shocks. It is the outcome of a set of international, multistakeholder dialogues organized by the World Economic Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society and engaged the Centre's six Global Future Councils.