Jacob Christensen

There is one thing which the Danish commentariat can agree on: Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants to be the first President of the European Council. Or something like that. I won’t even bother to search for links because these stories pop up in Danish media once or twice per week and have been doing so for some time and a large part of your credibility as a political commentator in Denmark lies in the ability to look into the nearest camera and declare that “Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants to leave Danish politics in favour of an international top job before the next election” in a deep voice.

Be that as it may, the good citiziens of Europe are of a different opinion. According to the Financial Times

more than three-quarters of people surveyed in France, Italy and Spain believe the job must go to a high-profile figure who can represent the Union effectively – a view which was also supported by 50 per cent of Britons.

Being the Prime Minister of Denmark obviously does not meet that qualification although Mr. Fogh (should his wish be to become EU President) might take some solace from this:

Although the poll suggests there is a strong preference among people in western Europe for a high-profile candidate, there is no consensus on who the EU president should be.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Tony Blair, the former British premier, are the only two politicians who get a clear level of support in countries that are not their own.

I would still put my money on Jean-Claude Juncker, though. After all, Luxembourg is a member of the EMU.

The Israeli economist Dan Ben-David has posted a couple of articles about the exodus of Israeli researchers – especially within economics and computer science – to the US. Ben-David argues that taxation and security play minor roles (and why would economists and computer scientists be especially sensitive compared to chemists, physicists or philosophers?) and points to some factors in Israeli education and research policy:

While the number of teaching and research personnel per 100,000 people in the States rose by 29% from 1976 to 2005 (Figure 1), this measure fell in Israel by 35% between 1978 and 2005. Even the addition of non-research academic institutions in recent years did little to change this overall picture. By 2005, the number of teaching and research personal in all of Israel’s institutions for higher learning fell to a level 40% below America’s … As the number of academic positions per capita in Israel was being reduced, the number of students soared.

So, fewer jobs and more students per teacher. Economic efficiency takes its toll over time. Sound familiar?

Israeli universities are much more dependent on government funding than are public universities in America. In 2000, tuition and private contributions accounted for roughly the same share of revenues in both countries, less than a fifth for the former and just over 5% for the latter. On the other hand, over two thirds of the higher education income in Israel came from the government, compared to 51% in American public universities. The resultant increased dependency of universities in Israel on the state of the economy, and on the whims of political currents and undercurrents, has considerably reduced the degrees of freedom available to them in the realm of planning, growth and emphasis.

This, I would say, is a general problem outside of the US: For a number of reasons, the resources available to higher education from sources other than the state are limited (note that Ben-David separates “gifts, donations and contracts” from “other sources”, and I would like to see those described in more detail) and their access – or lack thereof – to financial and budgetary instruments a half-way house between an open market system and the old type of “civil servant” academy.

Article #1: An Academic Exodus; Article #2: Why Are Israeli Academics Moving to America.

• PhDinHistory: “We Never Had a Golden Age”: Historians and the Public Since World War II
  When academic history books sell well, public interest in history increases, and more students decide to major in history. When the sales of academic history books slump, the public and students become interested in other things
  (tags: history academic publishing education)

I wonder if an avantgarde music performance would stand a chance of being a topic in a popular TV show these days, though. (And yes, Mr. X is John Cale).

Via Unfogged where the comments mysteriously turn into a discussion of Rufus Wainwright.

YouNotSneaky advises us, inspired by Dani Rodrik, the economist who does not read the Economist. Henry Farrell of Crooked Timber joined the pack and go this reply from the signature novakant

As for the appeal of the Economist, apart from the content, I wouldn’t discount practical matters such as the length of the articles and the physical format, which both are appreciated a lot on train/plane journeys.

Yeah, Die Zeit is at a definitive disadvantage here. And let’s face it: If you really know something about a subject, media coverage more often than not is likely to drive you into deep desperation.

Declaration of interest: I do some (paid) work for a part of the Economist Group.