Daily Policy Digest
International Issues
| MEN NOT AT WORK Since creating a 35-hour workweek six years ago to combat high unemployment, the number of jobless in France has stayed around 9 percent -- about where it was 10 years ago... |
| BELGIAN ROLE MODEL A new "Gore tax" is being written in Belgium to punish the users of aluminum and plastic, among others... |
| RUSSIAN POPULATION IN STEEP DECLINE Russia's population fell by more than half a million, or 0.3 percent, in the first eight months of the year, new statistics show... |
| SILVER ANNIVERSARY FOR CHILE RETIREMENT In Chile's defined contribution pension system, spells of non-contribution appear mainly to be during periods when people held no jobs, were unemployed or self employed... |
| BEHIND THE SUBSIDY CURTAIN Taxpayers in the European Union have handed out billions of euros in agricultural subsidies without knowing who gets the money or how much... |
| SHOPPING FOR A NOBEL The best way for third world villagers to tap "the vast pipeline of wealth from the developed world" is to sell their products to the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, says Michael Strong... |
| NEW CHINA, OLD WAYS Chinese banks may look new on the outside, but they still operate the same old way... |
| CHILE'S EDUCATION WOES Money may not solve Chile's education woes... |
| A CHILEAN SUCCESS STORY Chile's exceptional economic performance is the result of systematic application of sound economic policies... |
| TALES FROM THE CRYPT Sweden has a 17 percent hidden unemployment rate and a fraction of America's growth in the past decade... |
