Fall Back, the brainpower famine begins to bite
October 18, 2007
Economist -
“CONVENTIONAL wisdom about eastern Europe is usually wrong. Few believed the communist ice-cap would melt so quickly in 1989. Today’s growth rates seemed unimaginable in the early 1990s. Surely nothing could now derail the great locomotive of economic growth?
Indeed something could: a lack of brainpower. So far, the region has benefited from the twin windfalls of low labour costs—a perverse gain from communist mismanagement—and fast economic integration with the rich half of the continent. Now the big challenge is not becoming more efficient in order to be cheaper, but innovating in order to be better. That depends chiefly on the quality and quantity of brainpower available.“ (more)
