Will populist leaders stifle the global recovery –or vice versa?

Politicians such as Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and Beppe Grillo are wildcards that could kill off gathering growth

After nine dreary years of downgrading their GDP forecasts, macroeconomic policymakers around the world are shaking their heads in disbelief: despite a populist-propelled wave of political tumult, global growth is actually set to outperform expectations in 2017.

It's not just American exceptionalism. Although US growth is very strong, Europe has been outperforming expectations by more. There is even happy news for emerging markets, which are still bracing for US Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes but have gained a better backdrop against which to adjust.

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