It is anticipated that the world's economies will be faced with severe macroeconomic challenges over the next decade. The global financial crisis and the resulting global recession led to the closure of many firms, rising unemployment and high levels of public debt in most developed countries. Despite the end of the recession, fears for the future growth of demand remain. The need to reduce public sector deficits, built up partly as an initial response to the crisis, through increases in taxation and reductions in government expenditure have led some to predict that growth will remain low, and unemployment high, for many years to come.