Mapping Inequality

A proper post on the Financial Times map of Britain under New Labour will be forthcoming; I’m in the middle of changing jobs, though, so have been extremely busy over the past week. The map is fascinating in terms of the main areas that have benefitted (notably London and Scotland) and those that have not thrived – especially the North-East, which lags behind the other regions despite relatively large public expenditure per head. A Flash rather than Macromedia version of the map can be found downpage here.

Education Links

Two interesting posts from Becker and Posner on their blog about the American education system. Also some interesting comments on the culural predication inherant in such tests. Overall I disagree that poor scores in mathematics do not effect the economy overall – when considered as a skill set rather than basic arithmetic, I can’t think of many areas of industry to which maths is not vital – but the articles are worth reading.

From the New York Times, Harvard are ending early admissions to college. Interesting to read about the interplay of being ‘elite’ and being ‘inclusive’, and the way the former may enable the latter.