T he Atlantic magazine recently named Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon’s paper on U.S. growth The Most Depressing Economic Idea of 2012.

That’s probably true, and not as sensationalist as it might seem.

In Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts The Six Headwinds, Gordon’s thesis is that even if innovation were to continue into the future at the rate of the two decades before 2007, the U.S. faces six headwinds that are in the process of dragging long-term growth to half or less of the 1.9 percent annual rate experienced between 1860 and 2007. These include demography, education, inequality, globalization, energy/environment, and the overhang of consumer and government debt.

Robert Gordon’s Ted Talk is a brilliant summary of his view:

Interested in more from Robert Gordon? Register for BCA’s 2013 New York Investment Conference where we are delighted to welcome Mr. Gordon as a guest speaker.

We are tremendously excited to announce that President Emeritus at Harvard University and Former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, will be a guest speaker at the 2013 BCA New York Investment Conference, Easy Money versus Weak Growth: Can The Bull Market Be Sustained.

About Larry Summers:

M r. Summers was appointed to serve as the Director of the National Economic Council for the Obama Administration in 2009. As Director of the White House National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, Mr. Summers served as a key economic decision-maker in the Obama administration. The Economist magazine referred to the “Summers Doctrine” of massive active response to economic downturn combined with respect for markets in the basic allocation of resources as defining the recent approach to economic policy. Mr. Summers was the Chief White House Advisor to the President on the development and implementation of Economic Policy; he led the President’s daily economic briefing and was a frequent public spokesman for the Administration’s policies.  Upon his departure from the White House, President Obama said, “I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril for our country, a man of Larry’s brilliance, experience and judgment was willing to answer the call and lead our economic team.” He returned to Harvard in early 2011 as the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and the Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Click here for Mr. Summers full bio.

I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril for our country, a man of Larry’s brilliance, experience and judgment was willing to answer the call and lead our economic team. – President Obama

Risk assets have been rising high on a tidal wave of central bank liquidity, but there remains a major question about how long this can be sustained given the extremely weak global recovery, continued high levels of debt and lingering financial imbalances throughout much of the developed world.

Against this background, the conference agenda will include sessions on the following topics:

• The euro crisis: stumbling towards a solution or breakup?
• Is monetary policy doing more harm than good?
• What will the debt end game look like and when will it occur?
• Has developed economy growth moved permanently to a much lower level?
• Is the underperformance of emerging markets just temporary?
• Investment prospects in global real estate
• Global investment strategy, highlighting the major risks and opportunities

The following speakers have been confirmed for the event:

• Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus at Harvard University and Former U.S. Treasury Secretary
• Donald Kohn, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and former Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Bill White, Chairman of the Economic Development and Review Committee, OECD and former Economic Adviser to the Bank for International Settlements
• Athanasios Orphanides, Former Governor, Central Bank of Cyprus and former member of the ECB Governing Council
• Woody Brock, President, Strategic Economic Decisions
• Jim Grant, Editor, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer
• Byron Wien, Vice Chairman, Blackstone Advisory Partners
• Dylan Grice, Edelweiss Holdings Ltd.
• Robert Gordon, Professor of Economics, Northwestern University
• Bill Raduchel, Strategic adviser on technology
• Nicolas Veron, Senior Fellow, Bruegel and Visiting Fellow, the Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Raymond Torto, Global Chief Economist, CB Richard Ellis Group.
• Sotiris Tsolacos, Director of European Research, Property and Portfolio Research

The conference program will allow plenty of time for discussion and interaction with the audience, and will also provide you with a unique opportunity to network with senior investment professionals from around the world together with BCA strategists.

We hope you will join us in New York for what is sure to be an interesting and worthwhile meeting.

The BCA New York Investment Conference sells out very quickly and space is limited. Click here to register today.

Where To Stay?

W e have arranged special room discounts for BCA Conference attendees at The Waldorf Astoria.

The rate is $469 (not including taxes) per night – for two nights (September 22nd and 23rd). Please note that there are limited rooms reserved at this rate for the two day booking, and that all rooms will be reserved on a ‘first come first served’ basis.

Register for BCA New York 2013 today and we’ll send you the Waldorf reservation link in your confirmation e-mail!