Emerging market and developing economies are still going strong, but in advanced economies, there appears to be a growing bifurcation between the United States on the one hand, and the Euro area on the other.

The 2008-09 global economic crisis pushed public debt ratios of advanced economies to levels never seen before during peacetime. These high debt levels expose countries to a loss of market confidence and, ultimately, damage long-term growth prospects.

Some small states have been able to overcome certain size-related challenges by achieving higher levels of such growth determinants as openness, education, and financial development. The key to achieving economic success may be to pursue policies that exploit their advantages and offset their disadvantages.

After three years of bullish run, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is on the downhill. Featuring among the emerging markets' hottest for almost 12 months, the PSE is now, however, filled with among the most overpriced stocks in Asia and beyond.

In turbulent times, the glass can be seen as half full or half empty. At Davos, you hear passionate advocacy of both. I won't even try to say what 2013 will bring, but I do believe there are strong underlying signals of fundamental changes that will shape the future over the next decade.

Today I'm going to zap around the world a bit, outlining some global trends that are areas of opportunity, both for promoting the World Economic Forum's commitment to "improving the state of the world" and for businesses' bottom lines.

With the New Year, we all hope to put the global financial crisis behind us. We also need to do more to secure our future. Beyond our current economi...

The Great Compression will give way to the Great Reflation, not next month or next quarter but at some point over the next 12 to 24 months. How this is done will make all the difference -- via beggar-thy-neighbor policies or internal, pro-growth policy implementation?

Yes, a few emerging nations have shown impressive growth, notably China and a handful of Asian Tigers. But remember when Japan, now beset by chronic deflation, an aging population and perhaps another recession, was poised to become the world's most powerful economy?

The Philippines is relishing a strong economic momentum. Amid global fears of a double-dip recession, the Philippines represents a countercyclical story of growth and resilience.

The forces of financial and economic fragmentation have widened the divide between countries at the core and the "periphery" of the euro zone. Can this process of fragmentation be reversed?

The slow global recovery is making fiscal adjustment more difficult around the world, but this doesn't mean that little has been accomplished. In fact, significant progress in many countries has been made during the past two years in strengthening their fiscal accounts after the 2008-09 deterioration.

The world recovery can continue, and can strengthen. The right pace of fiscal consolidation, continuing expansionary monetary policy, getting the financial sector back to health to decrease borrowing costs, and solidarity, especially within the Euro zone, are all of the essence.