FT and Credit Suisse Lex Forum Series: Charting the New Economic and Financial Landscape 2011

The global economy is still struggling to find any measure of stability more than two years after the financial crisis.

In Western economies, output and employment remain depressed after the global economic downturn, with many governments now applying austerity measures as they try to scale back the massive debt they incurred in trying to forestall the deepest recession in decades. These measures have stirred social unrest in Europe, where the sovereign debt crisis has thrown into question some of the fundamental principles behind the creation of the Eurozone.

The US however bucked the austerity trend with the Fed's decision in November to renew quantitative easing and inject at least US$600 Billion into the economy through purchases of Treasury bonds. The move angered fast-growing emerging economies, already dealing with a sustained and massive inflow of overseas funds that have stoked concerns about over-heating.

What lies ahead in the next 12 months? Will QE2 work, and if so, how? When will the Fed know that it has done enough? What are the risks of doing too much or too little? Is deflation as much of a risk in the US as elsewhere? Does the US have more to learn from Europe in terms of managing high and sustained unemployment than it does from the deflationary experience in Japan? Can the faster-growing components of the global economy continue to advance even if the US slows? To what extent are they large and disconnected enough to decouple?

In the latest in a global series of strategic forums, the Financial Times and Credit Suisse will gather senior economists and financial sector executives to discuss the outlook for the global economy and government policy in 2011, with a focus on the challenges facing the US and Europe and the opportunities for change. Chaired by John Authers, Global Editor of the FT's Lex column, this high-level, invitation-only event will feature a keynote address by Credit Suisse