The financial crisis and long-term demographic trends have transformed the future of the global economy. In the short term, petroleum price trends, a definitive solution to the eurozone crisis and the outcome of the U.S. elections will determine the economic performance of the world´s developed economies. But over the longer term, events in the developing nations, especially demography, the resolution of their institutional issues and the pace of globalization, will be decisive for the future of the developed world. What are the prospects for the United States and the eurozone over the next few years, and what new opportunities will their future open up for the rest of the world, particularly for Africa?

Gayle Allard is a native of California who has lived and worked in Spain for more than 20 years. She is a professor of Economic Environment and Country Analysis at the IE Business School in Madrid and has also served as Vice-Chancellor for Research for IE University. She worked previously for JP Morgan, as research economist for Spain and Europe, and for The Economist Intelligence Unit, as a research economist and author of special reports on Spain. Gayle has a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis, where her dissertation explored how labor-market institutions and policies have generated unemployment in Europe since World War II. Her most recent research continues to focus on labor market institutions, the welfare state and proposals for reform, most particularly in the Spanish case.