Bird's eye view of the world from Davos - by Robert Peston
A pall of fatalism seemed to fall on Davos, more numbing than the rising snow and the falling mist, in the closing stages of this year's World Economic Forum. One manifestation was an epidemic of avian-flu doomsaying, following the dissemination of World Health Organisation and Booz Allen scenarios about the possible impact of a pandemic of that feathered, flying virus. The chief executive of a health business said to me: "There is a great deal of hysteria being generated: that is the job of media, not the World Economic Forum, for heaven's sake". One economic consequence if the bug does jump the species barrier is - apparently - that the price of oil would collapse. Why so? Borders would be closed to contain the spread of the illness. Airports would be shut down. Whole industries - especially tourism - would go into recession. So demand for aviation fuel and possibly even petrol would plummet.
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