The European Economy Since World War II and Beyond

Via CaryGEE,

Sheri Berman, of political science fame at Barnard College,

captivates our attention with a New York Times book review
of axe-bearing Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen's

"The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond".

It is definitely a book which we are adding to our reading list, and not because we share with Eichengreen the experience of once having been a Fellow in Kiel, Germany.

We live in Europe and can applaud whole-heartedly Eichengreen's correct observation that capitalism alone is not enough to run a successful and effective capitalist system - you also have to have the modern institutions required to run such a system - and these are often sorely lacking in many parts of Europe.

Education by Degrees : The Bachelor's Degree is Winning

In our previous posting regarding Citizendium, we noted that contributors to Citizendium will be reviewed by "CZ Constables", volunteers who are required to have a bachelor's degree.

This requirement of a bachelor's degree by Citizendium mirrors the process of reform for "education by degrees" going on now throughout Europe (see the Bologna Process) and the rest of the world, where it used to be the case (and still often is) that every country had (has) its own "provincial" educational degree system, which caused (and causes) enormous unnecessary confusion internationally in determining the equivalence and accreditation of degrees.

Germany here is a good example, where the Bachelor's degree (and the subsequent Masters degree) are now replacing the antiquated German system of college degrees by the year 2010.

There is no doubt in our mind, as mandated by the demands of modern civilization, that the question "do you have a high school diploma" will be replaced in coming years with the question "do you have a bachelor's degree?"