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izz aty

The Nordic countries: The next supermodel | The Economist - 0 views

www.economist.com/...rdic-countries-next-supermodel

nordic scandinavian sweden denmark norway finland

shared by izz aty on 17 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • The Nordics cluster at the top of league tables of everything from economic competitiveness to social health to happiness.
  • lucky timing: the Nordics cleverly managed to have their debt crisis in the 1990s
  • Development theorists have taken to calling successful modernisation “getting to Denmark”
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  • In the 1970s and 1980s the Nordics were indeed tax-and-spend countries.
  • To politicians around the world—especially in the debt-ridden West—they offer a blueprint of how to reform the public sector, making the state far more efficient and responsive.
  • They have avoided both southern Europe’s economic sclerosis and America’s extreme inequality.
  • But tax-and-spend did not work: Sweden fell from being the fourth-richest country in the world in 1970 to the 14th in 1993.
  • Government’s share of GDP in Sweden, which has dropped by around 18 percentage points, is lower than France’s and could soon be lower than Britain’s. Taxes have been cut: the corporate rate is 22%, far lower than America’s. The Nordics have focused on balancing the books. While Mr Obama and Congress dither over entitlement reform, Sweden has reformed its pension system (see Free exchange). Its budget deficit is 0.3% of GDP; America’s is 7%.
  • Nordics have been similarly pragmatic. So long as public services work, they do not mind who provides them
  • The performance of all schools and hospitals is measured. Governments are forced to operate in the harsh light of day: Sweden gives everyone access to official records. Politicians are vilified if they get off their bicycles and into official limousines. The home of Skype and Spotify is also a leader in e-government: you can pay your taxes with an SMS message
  • Denmark and Norway allow private firms to run public hospitals. Sweden has a universal system of school vouchers, with private for-profit schools competing with public schools. Denmark also has vouchers—but ones that you can top up.
  • the Nordics also offer something for the progressive left by proving that it is possible to combine competitive capitalism with a large state: they employ 30% of their workforce in the public sector, compared with an OECD average of 15%
  • They are stout free-traders who resist the temptation to intervene even to protect iconic companies: Sweden let Saab go bankrupt and Volvo is now owned by China’s Geely. But they also focus on the long term—most obviously through Norway’s $600 billion sovereign-wealth fund—and they look for ways to temper capitalism’s harsher effects.
  • Denmark, for instance, has a system of “flexicurity” that makes it easier for employers to sack people but provides support and training for the unemployed, and Finland organises venture-capital networks.
  • Public spending as a proportion of GDP in these countries is still higher than this newspaper would like, or indeed than will be sustainable.
  • All Western politicians claim to promote transparency and technology. The Nordics can do so with more justification than most.
  • Their levels of taxation still encourage entrepreneurs to move abroad
  • Too many people—especially immigrants—live off benefits
  • pressures that have forced their governments to cut spending, such as growing global competition, will force more change. The Nordics are bloated compared with Singapore, and they have not focused enough on means-testing benefits
  • Nordics are part of the answer. They also show that EU countries can be genuine economic successes. And as the Asians introduce welfare states they too will look to the Nordics: Norway is a particular focus of the Chinese
  • You can inject market mechanisms into the welfare state to sharpen its performance. You can put entitlement programmes on sound foundations to avoid beggaring future generations. But you need to be willing to root out corruption and vested interests.
  • A Swede pays tax more willingly than a Californian because he gets decent schools and free health care
  • The main lesson to learn from the Nordics is not ideological but practica
  • you must be ready to abandon tired orthodoxies of the left and right and forage for good ideas across the political spectrum
  • izz aty on 17 Nov 14
     
    SMALLISH countries are often in the vanguard when it comes to reforming government. In the 1980s Britain was out in the lead, thanks to Thatcherism and privatisation. Tiny Singapore has long been a role model for many reformers. Now the Nordic countries are likely to assume a similar role.
izz aty

EF English Proficiency Index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...EF_English_Proficiency_Index

english language proficiency language english proficiency survey research esol

shared by izz aty on 06 Apr 14 - No Cached
  •  Malaysia 11 58.99 High Proficiency +3.45
  • lack of representative sampling in each country
  • participants in the tests are self-selected and must have access to the internet. This pushes the index towards the realm of an online survey rather than a statistically valid evaluation.
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  • there are few alternative comparisons available of countries by their English skills, and those that exist are smaller in scale, as is the case with a reported British Council study,[1] or they have other sampling flaws, as is the case with rankings of countries by standardized English test scores such as the TOEFL.[6]
  • European Commission performed a language survey, SurveyLang, which tests a representative sample of 15 year old European students on their foreign language skills. The first report and data sets were released for 13 European countries in June 2012 [7]
  • izz aty on 06 Apr 14
     
    "The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) is a report which attempts to rank countries by the average level of English skills amongst adults. It is the product of EF Education First, a global language training company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via English tests available for free over the internet."
izz aty

Global Girl Power: To Fight Poverty, Invest in Girls - TIME - 0 views

www.time.com/...0,9171,2046045,00.html

education discrimination sexism women girls poverty power global schooling investment culture finances

shared by izz aty on 31 May 11 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 31 May 11
     
    Girls who stay in school for seven or more years typically marry four years later and have two fewer children than girls who drop out. Fewer dependents per worker allows for greater economic growth. And the World Food Programme has found that when girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90% of it in their families. They buy books, medicine, bed nets. For men, that figure is more like 30% to 40%. "Investment in girls' education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world," Larry Summers wrote when he was chief economist at the World Bank. Of such cycles are real revolutions born.
izz aty

Low quality Malaysian education more alarming than household debt, says World Bank econ... - 0 views

www.themalaysianinsider.com/...ing-than-household-debt-says-w

education malaysian education economist

shared by izz aty on 25 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • This is because the country's substandard education system would affect the pool of skilled talent it needs to grow its economy to become a high income nation, while high household debt is not necessarily a problem if the economy continues to grow and citizens are gainfully employed.
izz aty

The Economist Insights - Expert Analysis and Events | Starting Well - 1 views

www.economistinsights.com/...starting-well

ECE education

shared by izz aty on 30 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Until the 1980s, preschools in most countries were largely focussed on providing simple child minding. But as economies shift towards more knowledge-based activities, awareness about child development—the need to improve their social awareness, confidence and group interaction skills, and to prepare them for starting primary education—continues to grow. Nevertheless, policymakers still give most attention to the tertiary, secondary and primary levels of education, in descending order of importance, with the least focus given to the early years of child development.
  • also broader reasons to invest in preschool. At one level, it helps facilitate greater female participation in the workforce, which bolsters economic growth
  • From neuro-scientific research, we understand the criticality of early brain development; from social science research, we know that high quality programmes improve children’s readiness for school and life; and from econometric research, we know that high quality programs save society significant amounts of money over time.  Early childhood contributes to creating the kinds of workforces that are going to be needed in the twenty-first century.”
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  • preschools can help ensure that all children get a strong start in life, especially those from low-income or disadvantaged households.
  • The Nordic countries perform best at preschool, and European countries dominate the rankings.
  • especially so in very unequal societies where you get generational and cyclical repetition of poverty and low achievement.”
  • the Starting Well Index assesses the extent to which these governments provide a good, inclusive early childhood education (ECE) environment for children between the ages of three and six. In particular, it considers the relative availability, affordability and quality of such preschool environments.
  • As economies increasingly compete on the quality of their human capital, policymakers need to ensure that all children get the best possible preparation for primary school.
  • Finland, Sweden and Norway top the Index, thanks to sustained, long-term investments and prioritisation of early childhood development, which is now deeply embedded in society
  • Europe’s state-led systems perform well, as the provision of universal preschool has steadily become a societal norm. This trend continues to develop. Ireland introduced a universal free year of preschool in 2010, for example, despite chronic budgetary difficulties
  • In general, the leading countries in this Index have the following elements in place for their preschool systems: A comprehensive early childhood development and promotion strategy, backed up with a legal right to such education. Universal enrolment of children in at least a year of preschool at ages five or six, with nearly universal enrolment between the ages of three and five. Subsidies to ensure access for underprivileged families. Where provision is privatised, the cost of such care is affordable relative to average wages. A high bar for preschool educators, with specific qualification requirements. This is often backed up with commensurate wages, as well as low student-teacher ratios. A well-defined preschool curriculum, along with clear health and safety standards. Clear parental involvement and outreach. A broad socioeconomic environment that ensures that children are healthy and well-nourished when they enter preschool.
  • also a major force in helping overcome issues relating to child poverty and educational disadvantage
  • not to suggest that quality preschool programmes are lacking in these countries. But such schemes are not available or affordable to all strands of society, while minimum quality standards vary widely
  • Many high-income countries rank poorly, despite wealth being a major factor in a country’s ability to deliver preschool services
  • For emerging countries seeking to improve their innovative potential, they need to ensure that as many children as possible have a strong start in life. This is a crucial first step as they seek to transform their economies from low to high value-add activities.
  • Public sector spending cuts pose a major threat to preschools, especially among recent adopters
  • especially true within countries where preschool provision is not yet a societal norm,
  • increased government investment in early childhood development, if directed well, can result in annual returns ranging from 8% to 17%, which largely accrue to wider society. Such returns come from the reduced need for later remedial education and spending, as well as lower crime and less welfare reliance in later life, among other things.
  • Among wealthier countries that are making considerable steps towards quality universal provision, many have yet to enforce even a minimum level of preschool as a legal right for children.
  • Affordability of preschool is typically worst in those countries where availability is most limited. As simple economics would suggest, those countries with the lowest availability of preschool are also the ones where it is most expensive. This hits lower-income countries hard. In China, the least affordable country in this Index, preschools in Beijing charge monthly fees up to six times as much as a top university. In general, as preschool provision becomes more widely available in a country, it also tends to become more affordable.
  • Ensuring a high standard of teacher training and education, setting clear curriculum guidelines, and ensuring parental involvement are some of the main drivers of preschool education quality
  • Other factors can help too: reducing student-teacher ratios in classes; ensuring good health and safety measures; and creating clear links between preschool and primary school, to name just a few.
izz aty

BBC News - No siblings: A side-effect of China's one-child policy - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...magazine-25035280

china china ed one child policy politics policymaking foreign policy

shared by izz aty on 30 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Chinese families used to have an average of four children each, but life changed radically in 1979, when a law was introduced dictating that most parents could only have one child. Last week, we learned that the policy will now be relaxed, after being enforced across the world's most populous country for more than a generation.
  • "On the township roads, there are slogans written on flamboyant red banners, telling people to have fewer children and raise more pigs,"
  • "Most of my audiences don't realise they have a special identity," he explains, noting that many parents even stopped questioning why they couldn't have more than one child and forgot that things had ever been different.
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  • "Every family suddenly had a huge amount of discretionary income to invest in education and also in consumption," Fong explains. The resources that had been spread among several children in past generations were now focused on one child.
  • In 1979, when the policy was first unveiled, the new rules were a major adjustment for those accustomed to large families. But children growing up under the policy were unaware of this. And in the early years, the parents of most new single children came from large families - so instead of siblings the children were able to forge close relationships with cousins.
  • If my parents had had other children, they would have paid less attention to me, in which case I might have spent more time and energy doing things that interest me. Chinese parents of my parents' generation like to plan life for their children," she explains.
  • as a single child, I have the responsibility to look after my parents. I couldn't leave my city. I need to be with them. This is something I cannot change."
  • "As an only child, I have my parents' love all to myself," she says firmly. "I don't want to share my parents with others."
  • what about Little Emperor Syndrome
  • a number of studies - including many conducted by Chinese researchers - have failed to turn up any nasty personality traits among those who grew up in China's one-child families. There's no real evidence that China's singletons are any different than other children, they argue.
  • University of Melbourne economist Nisvan Erkal. "What we found was that people born after the policy, and who are single children because of the policy are significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk averse and less competitive," he says. "From the surveys, we find they are also more pessimistic and less conscientious."
  • An increasing tendency for people to move home for the sake of a job also makes it more likely single children will grow up without close ties to their grandparents, or even childhood friends, notes the sociologist, Vanessa Fong.
  • Ge and her husband qualify for a second child. However, she knocks down that idea with a quick wave of her hand. A second child would be too expensive, she explains, if she wants to be able to afford a good lifestyle.
  • "It is not that we don't want to raise more children, it is that we cannot create that many opportunities for them. If I cannot create that much opportunity for my children, I think that my children will feel lost in competition against other children," she says.
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