The general climate of opinion about the likely course of the world economy over the next two or three years has altered considerably during the last few months. Around the middle of the year it was not infrequently suggested that the very rapid rise in output in the first quarter was the prelude to a coming boom which would cause governments to slam on the brakes some time next year and thus produce a new recession in 1978. Anxieties about 1978 still persist, but since the extent of the slowing down in the growth of world output in the second quarter became apparent the basis of these anxieties has changed. The fear now is that the recovery may peter out without gaining sufficient momentum to generate the revival of business investment on which its continuation beyond 1977 largely depends.