Relevancy of Apprenticeships
During our apprenticeship tour of Germany, France, and the UK, I was impressed at the respect that the general population held for apprenticeship programs. One of our taxi drivers in …
Who Is an Apprentice?
While our focus in Europe has been on the broad structure of apprenticeship systems, we should not lose sight of the apprentices themselves. Many times we have been told “no …
Apprenticeship Loyalty in Hannover
Today we went to the MMBbS, an information technology and media vocational training school two hours south of Berlin by train, and learned about the school that was built on …
Dual System Dilemmas
Germany was derided not too long ago as the “sick man of Europe” after years of economic malaise. It is now lauded as the world’s Exportweltmeister; its current-account surplus even …
First Impressions of French Apprenticeships
As part of the AGI site visit tour, my colleagues and I spent our first day in Paris getting an in-depth view of the French apprenticeship system. We started off at …
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Support Our WorkPost-Soviet Apprenticeship
After the hustle and bustle of the capital city, our train passed through the countryside. Small family farms with goats abutted a busy railway. Our destination also lay in between …
The French Challenge
The French government recently announced that the age of austerity is finally over—at least for France. That it will now disregard most of its commitments on reducing fiscal deficits represents …
ECB Turning into a “Bad Bank”? Nonsense
Adequate ECB Policy Reduces Risks For five years, many German academics and the mass media have warned that the unconventional policies of the European Central Bank (ECB) would lead to …
Central Banks’ Diverging Paths Equals a Weaker Euro
The latest monetary decisions made by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are keeping analysts very busy. The two key questions central bank watchers are grappling …
Safe as Houses: Comparing Housing Finance Policies in the U.S. and Germany
The recent financial crisis demonstrated that housing is a key sector of the U.S. economy, with the potential to bring down the entire global economy. The crisis also recast the …
Labor Mobility
How mobile are workers in the euro currency area? Everyone directly or indirectly involved in devising, designing, and implementing the single European currency had to deal with this question in …
