The Paula Principle

The Economist

Investing differently

For better or worse - almost wholly better - I live close to a number of friends with similar outlooks.  You might say we're very bubbly in Tufnell Park. But one  consequence of this convergence of tastes is that I find myself drowning in journals that are recirculated on to me.  I already buy a daily paper and subscribe to the LRB and Prospect;  so when friends kindly drop other journals through the door I pick them up with a mixture of gratitude and despondency.  How can I get to read the books I want to when the mags pile up so? Anyway, that's how I came to be skimming…
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PP and ethnic integration

No, this is not about the current migrant issue, dominant though that is in all of our minds.  (It will, incidentally, be very relevant to see how well the competences of the Syrians are recognised, given that many of them are very well qualified, but that's another story.) It's about changes in the attitudes of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women towards employment.  The Economist reports some very interesting changes in their participation rates.  In the early part of the noughties, 31% of Pakistani women and just 21% of Bangladeshi women were in the labour market.  Since 2008, these proportions have risen quite sharply - in the case of Bangladeshi women by 13%.…
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Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
Read More

Investing differently

For better or worse - almost wholly better - I live close to a number of friends with similar outlooks.  You might say we're very bubbly in Tufnell Park. But one  consequence of this convergence of tastes is that I find myself drowning in journals that are recirculated on to me.  I already buy a daily paper and subscribe to the LRB and Prospect;  so when friends kindly drop other journals through the door I pick them up with a mixture of gratitude and despondency.  How can I get to read the books I want to when the mags pile up so? Anyway, that's how I came to be skimming…
Read More

PP and ethnic integration

No, this is not about the current migrant issue, dominant though that is in all of our minds.  (It will, incidentally, be very relevant to see how well the competences of the Syrians are recognised, given that many of them are very well qualified, but that's another story.) It's about changes in the attitudes of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women towards employment.  The Economist reports some very interesting changes in their participation rates.  In the early part of the noughties, 31% of Pakistani women and just 21% of Bangladeshi women were in the labour market.  Since 2008, these proportions have risen quite sharply - in the case of Bangladeshi women by 13%.…
Read More

Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
Read More

Investing differently

For better or worse - almost wholly better - I live close to a number of friends with similar outlooks.  You might say we're very bubbly in Tufnell Park. But one  consequence of this convergence of tastes is that I find myself drowning in journals that are recirculated on to me.  I already buy a daily paper and subscribe to the LRB and Prospect;  so when friends kindly drop other journals through the door I pick them up with a mixture of gratitude and despondency.  How can I get to read the books I want to when the mags pile up so? Anyway, that's how I came to be skimming…
Read More

PP and ethnic integration

No, this is not about the current migrant issue, dominant though that is in all of our minds.  (It will, incidentally, be very relevant to see how well the competences of the Syrians are recognised, given that many of them are very well qualified, but that's another story.) It's about changes in the attitudes of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women towards employment.  The Economist reports some very interesting changes in their participation rates.  In the early part of the noughties, 31% of Pakistani women and just 21% of Bangladeshi women were in the labour market.  Since 2008, these proportions have risen quite sharply - in the case of Bangladeshi women by 13%.…
Read More

Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
Read More