Post-truth era a troubling sign of the times since Lehman crisis

THE year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the height of the international economic crisis which saw the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other firms. A decade on, the fact that multiple equity markets are near or at all-time highs, and the global economy is growing again, is disguising a toxic legacy of the period for the corporate world.

For one of the key ramifications of that crisis, considered by many economists to have been the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, is growing distrust in business, not least among the young. And in turn, this has helped fuel the post-truth phenomenon - in which objective facts have become progressively less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion - by reinforcing a wider collapse of public confidence in major institutions in both the private and public sectors.

While growing distrust in business is shown in numerous opinion polls, it is also symbolised by the significant protests since 2008, including the "Occupy movement" which came to international prominence in Wall Street in 2011 in its campaign against social and economic inequality. The occupy demonstrations, often driven by younger people, subsequently spread to around 1,000 cities and over 80 countries in all continents of the world from Canada to Norway to New Zealand.