woensdag 30 juni 2010

The economics of immigration

Listen to this very interesting podcast from The Economist here.

Apartheid in ons schoolsysteem is niet de oplossing

Socioloog Jaap Dronkers stelde vast dat een grote etnische diversiteit in de klas het niveau naar beneden haalt, zo meldde De Standaard dit weekend. Zijn oplossing: segregatie. Stop scholieren allemaal in mono-etnische scholen. In zulke scholen kunnen leerlingen, ongestoord door het anders-zijn van medescholieren, zich concentreren op de leerstof en halen ze bijgevolg betere resultaten. Dat is een zeer gevaarlijk discours, zeggen Gunilla de Graef van het CIMIC en Koen Stuyck van StampMedia. Segregatie is volgens hen een non-oplossing in een wereld waar verschil geen mogelijkheid, maar een feit is. Lees het volledige stuk op Apache hier.

Radical reforms can save the euro

Read the complete article in the Financial Times here.

A special report on debt: Repent at leisure

Borrowing has been the answer to all economic troubles in the past 25 years. Now debt itself has become the problem, says Philip Coggan. Read the complete article in the Economist here.

The yuan and global imbalances: The long march

China’s slightly freer currency would be all the more welcome if it spurred moves to boost consumptio.

Read the complete article in The Economist here.

Avoiding the Austerity Trap

Deficit reduction is an unhealthy obsession. Read Thomas Ffrank's column in the WSJ here.

Why Obamanomics Has Failed

Uncertainty about future taxes and regulations is enemy No. 1 of economic growth. Read the complete opinion article in the WSJ here.

The Third Depression

"The hard-liners often invoke the troubles facing Greece and other nations around the edges of Europe to justify their actions. And it’s true that bond investors have turned on governments with intractable deficits. But there is no evidence that short-run fiscal austerity in the face of a depressed economy reassures investors. On the contrary: Greece has agreed to harsh austerity, only to find its risk spreads growing ever wider; Ireland has imposed savage cuts in public spending, only to be treated by the markets as a worse risk than Spain, which has been far more reluctant to take the hard-liners’ medicine." Read Krugman's column in the NYTimes here.

In Ireland, a Picture of the High Cost of Austerity

Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.

European Union Tries to Simplify Patent Law

Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.

Topregio in armoedebestrijding?

Lees het volledige opiniestuk in De Standaard hier.