2006 Political & Economic Risk Map
Consulting firm Oxford Analytica teamed up with insurer Aon to publish their revised 2006 Political and Economic Risk Map back in January of 06 . The map identifies the relative danger of working in or with the 200+ countries that make up the political map of the world. The low risk countries are shown in green, with the high risk ones depicted in a sepia tones.
It would appear that Somalia has the dubious distinction of being the riskiest country in the world largely because it has all nine of the potential specific geopolitical risks listed in the report: economic, money transfer, strikes/riots/civil strife, war, terrorism, sovereign risk, legal, political and supply chain vulnerability. Tied for second place are Iraq and Tajikistan each with eight specific risks, thus making them 11% less risky than Somalia … at least in theory.
The report also identifies oil price shock and avian flu pandemic as the top two potential disrupters of the global economy in 2006. Oil prices are certainly a concern, with The International Energy Agency in agreement with OA and AON on this matter, whereas with the passage of time and the advantage of several months of hindsight, an H5N1 avian influenza, aka bird flu, epidemic seems increasingly unlikely to be nearly as devastating as the infamous 1918 Influenza Pandemic.
In looking beyond mere cost avoidance and towards positive revenue generation, we at GadgetManiac have a modest proposal, namely ad hoc anti-vacations, which will involve danger-fraught excursions to risky countries. Appropriately enough, our start-up company is to be called Gadgetmaniac Tours, or perhaps Put-Yourself-at-Risk Vacations. Our business model: sell adrenalin vacations to the inured. We plan to market to those who are bored by their already high-risk jobs, e.g. miners and lumberjacks, and are tired of their already high-risk sporting activities of smoking while BASE jumping and mountaineering, find that local pok-ta-pok tournaments just don’t cut it any more, and take them to the next higher level by organizing package tours of the sepia-colored countries.
2006 Political & Economic Risk Map - Aon publication, January 2006
