Davos is so 1990s: The jamboree has lost shine, thanks to social media

What are the factors that led to the decline of the World Economic Forum?

Communications revolution: WEF used to be a special place and a special gathering of global influencers and policymakers to catalyze dialogue and disagreement. However, the rise of social media has changed that now one tweet, from an influential personality like Elon Musk, can make or break the markets. For example, the recent case of cryptocurrencies.

Decline of Transatlantic economies: G7 accounts for 31% of global GDP in 2022, compared to 44% in 2000. Whereas, non-G7 members of G20 accounted for 42. 2% of global output. The share of G7 countries will further reduce to less than 29% by 2026 as per forecasts.

Furthermore, China is closing the gap with the US in terms of no. of Unicorns in the world out of total of 900 Unicorns. India has 100 unicorns.

Failure of global capitalism: global capitalism has failed to avert major crises in the past like the global financial crisis of 2007-09 or the euro crisis thereafter, Brexit, or Climate Change.

WEF has failed to instill the responsibility for global warming among industrialized nations, instead, the platform has been used for preaching lower emissions to countries like India and Africa.

Source: This post is created based on the article “Davos is so 1990s: The jamboree has lost shine, thanks to social media” published in Times of India on 24^th May 2022.