Think Harder

In this episode, Ivan and I tried to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different educations systems across the European Union and Asia.  We try to assess which countries have been the most successful in the EU when it comes to interconnecting their education systems to the job market. We dive deep into which countries have kept a more traditional method of education with heavy reliance into memorisation and which ones have opted for a more practical approach. We examine recent changes in education systems and their success or not, such as the Bologna process. We compare the Anglo-Saxon model of education to that of some countries in continental Europe (such as France, Italy or Spain). We take a look at the education systems in Asia and the link between education and the job market. We examine whether they put more stress on providing practical tools or whether they rely more on memorisation. In East Asia (e.g. China, Japan or Korea) we outline the successes of their systems but also underline the pressure they put into young students and their families to succeed in university entrance exams which are causing an array of diverse social problems. We, finally, look into which kind of measures can governments consider when reforming their education systems and we also take a look at the pernicious influence of the politisation of the education systems in some countries and how it has impacted their reform processes.

In the first episode of our recently launched podcast, we analyse the economic impacts of the crisis unleashed by the COVID 19 outbreak in both Europe and Asia. We delve into the economic and financial measures set in place by the European Union and assess their effectiveness. We compare this crisis to that of 2008, we examine the best financial tools for countries to come out of this crisis in the best shape possible and we try to look into which countries in Europe seem to be in a better position to tackle this crisis. In the second part of the episode, we examine the situation in Asia, with a particular focus on China, and we provide our forecast on the economic outlook of the region. We explore different geopolitical factors (such as the recent US elections), examine the vaccine production and distribution in China as well as the country's policies to tackle the economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic. Finally, we look into the behaviour of both the banking industry and the stock markets in Asia and China in particular.