By Andrew Nelson

With little to no growth on offer in the developed world, and with volatile markets jumping from risk-on to risk-off faster than rats up a drain pipe, the global economy is facing down an increasingly ugly scenario that is upsetting and confusing investors the world over. It's not time to panic just yet and to be fair, things are hanging in about as well as you could rightfully expect given the circumstances, but something's got to give sooner or later.

It's like we're back in 2008 all over again. All we seem to hear about is policymakers this and policymakers that, but in most cases the propeller heads that run and influence national, regional and global economies seem to be either unable or unwilling to make the right calls.

Given it is unlikely these folks will get their acts together anytime soon, and given responsible statesmanship has been put on the backburner in Europe and the US, analysts and economists from the BlackRock Investment Institute see increased odds of the global economy slipping into a stagnation scenario.

"The second half of 2012 will be dominated by three factors: