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Diplomatic Fallout from Boston
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Photo: flickr/hahatangoThe Boston Marathon is a joyous local event, signaling to a winter weary city that Spring, if not actually here, is not far away. It is held on the 3rd Monday of April on Patriots' Day, an equally local holiday that is on...
Exodus of Immigrants
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Yesterday’s article in the FT on the departure of Chinese migrants from Italy as the Italian economy grinds to a halt is an important wake-up call about the limits to solutions to one of the most vexing demographic problems faced by the developed w...
Go East, junge Mann
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Last night I attended a reception at the beautiful residence of the German Ambassador to Singapore to mark the ties between Germany and Singapore in the life sciences. It gave the recent THE world rankings of universities some real world context, in...
Shifting Borders of the Global Education Map
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The sun is setting on parts of the WestThe highly anticipated Times Higher Education global rankings of universities were released last night at 9:00 GMT, with the twittersphere counting down the hours in a slightly overwrought display of national...
You've Got to Move
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The collision of demography and politics in the current crisis should push EU policy makers to move quickly on some of the unfinished business of European integration. In response to my recent post on the outmigration of qualified young people...
Members of the Club
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All the drama surrounding Europe’s debt crisis has prompted a great deal of discussion about which countries are fit for membership in the club –should Greece stay, should it go from the Eurozone., etc. But the economic crisis has both overshadow...
How Bad is Youth Unemployment in Southern Europe?
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Youth unemployment in Europe has captured worldwide headlines during the crisis, with new highs being reported almost weekly. The current figures paint a daunting picture in the south of Europe: in May, 52.1% of young people in Greece and Spain...
Europe of the Regions
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The latest economic news out of Southern Europe with Spain’s borrowing costs hitting unsustainable levels and Monti’s fears that Sicily may be on the brink highlights an interesting angle on the euro crisis. This is the role the regions and...
Down but Not Out
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Yesterday, I was in New Haven having lunch with Juan Linz, the greatest social scientist Spain has produced, and other friends when the results from the regional elections in Andalusia started coming in. It had been a given on the part of...
Fade to Grey
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Last week, I was in Sevilla, the capital of Spain’s southern region, Andalucia, where a political earthquake is expected in March. Recent polls suggest that the conservative Popular Party will win an absolute majority in the regional election...
Higher Education and the Crisis
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Yesterday, on the way into town from the airport in Seville, where I am giving a series of talks, my university host and I were talking about the state of higher education and the economic crisis. He was bracing for another round of pay cuts he...
Politics vs. Economics
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This week ended with the expected, though no less demoralizing, news of more declines in credit ratings in Europe, or as Barron’s colorfully calls it, ‘Downgrade-palooza’. Both France and Austria lost their sterling AAA ratings and dropped a no...
We Have Lift-off
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At least that was the hope for yesterday’s speech by Ed Miliband, the head of the British Labour Party. It was hyped for days as his re-launch by the media, who see his poor standing in the polls and rumors in the party as evidence that his d...
Is Social Democracy Dead?
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Although the financial crisis has caused a fair number of casualties for incumbent governments, with voters holding governing parties of whatever political stripe responsible for the crisis, these are especially hard times for social democracy. ...
Magyar Mayhem
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One of the questions prompted by the Eurocrisis, notably with respect to Greece, is whether there are mechanisms for a country that is not complying with the obligations of membership to be sent packing from EMU. Today, though, Hungary makes us wonde...
Turkey 2011: Out of Europe's Shadow
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As 2011 draws to a close, we can be certain that it will be remembered as the year of the Eurocrisis, with all the global economic uncertainties that implies. However, one of the biggest stories of the year with implications for Europe has been...
Buon Anno
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Yesterday’s sale of short-term Italian debt saw rates cut in half compared with the last auction in November. While the drop on the yield for 6-month bonds to 3.25% was welcome news (though still over a percentage point higher than comparable...
Glad Tidings?
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The new Spanish government got an early Christmas present in the form of a very successful treasury auction today and much lowered borrowing costs. Their hopes to sell between €3.5 and 4.5 bn in short term (3 and 6 month) debt were wildly exc...
The Pain in Spain
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Today Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s newly elected President, gave his first speech in his new role before Parliament and laid out his plans to deal with the crisis. Like Monti, his counterpart in Italy, Rajoy’s proposed cuts fall at the lower end of est...
An Unremarkable Election
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Thursday's by-election in the West London parliamentary district of Feltham and Heston to fill a safe seat left vacant by the death of its occupant would normally have been unremarkable. However, because this was the first electoral test in the UK af...
