Registration
UBS Center Forum – The case for growth
Date
October 26, 2026Description
In the post-war era, economic growth seemed almost self-sustaining, remaining resilient even after the 1973 oil crisis. Public debate then centered not on generating growth but on limiting it – a debate famously sparked by the Club of Rome’s The Limits to Growth and still echoed today. Now, however, fear has shifted: many expect the next generation to be worse off than the last.
With Western European GDP growth hovering near a modest 1%, pressing questions arise: Is Europe caught in a structural growth crisis? Will artificial intelligence spark a new productivity paradigm or merely disrupt markets? How hard will demographic decline weigh on prosperity, and what will climate adaptation ultimately cost?
These are the questions this Forum sets out to address, bringing together leading researchers to move beyond rhetoric and examine what the evidence truly shows.
Short link: ema.uzh.ch/RRPYH