Not Enough to Worry About?

Each year the World Economic Forum thinks of all the terrible things that could happen during the coming year and grades them on two scales: How likely a given scenario is to occur and how great a global impact it would have over up to 10 years if it did occur.

The composite predictions had some surprises, chief among them that some event in 2014 relating to “Climate change” was judged among the few most likely to happen and would deliver the greatest worldwide risk. More likely still, but with lesser consequences: “Unemployment and underemployment”. Less likely, but with greater impact than climate change: “Fiscal crises”.

Dead center — only 50% likely and with an impact 50% of the rest: “Food crises”.

At the opposite extreme are those events thought least likely to occur and with slightest impact. The near winner you’ll be happy to learn: “Decline of importance of U.S. dollar”.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek mapped the results in a quadrant diagram, which you can pore over if you click...