First impressions

(Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Beard, Marketplace’s London bureau chief, arrived in Davos yesterday. He offers a few observations of the early hours at the 2010 WEF gathering:

At this very early stage of the conference, the general mood is rather muted.

This is my first visit to Davos. Last year, as I understand it, it was very much like a wake. Everyone was still shell-shocked and really didn’t know if the entire global economy was going to go under. Many bankers, of course, stayed away and many of the parties were cancelled.

This year, at least on this first day, it doesn’t seem to be much better. It appears that Davos has not recovered entirely from last year’s crash. There are more bankers on the scene, but still not all of them. Although the conference has a reputation for celebrities and throngs of people, there is really not the kind of crush that I had expected (this even though WEF officials say the attendance is as healthy as ever).

Davos takes its role very seriously. For at least a decade, this annual event has been preaching the gospel of globalization, free markets and deregulation. Even while other economists were predicting in 2005, 2006, 2007 of an impending crash, there were no such warnings coming out of Davos. They missed it completely, and I believe there is still some disorientation from that failing.

So it seems that Davos Man is still struggling to find his footing.

Stephen Beard in Davos

• Jan 27, 2010 12:51 PM — Dirk Mathison
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• tags: davos, stephen beard, wef