Dr. Simeon Djankov:

It may sound clichéd, but I am more and more impressed with some of the east Asian countries, countries that have already caught up with the average income per capitaof Europe. I am thinking of Korea, which in terms of income per capitais very similar to Ireland. Admittedly it is a large economy, but when we have this type of discussion with the policy makers they have thought about how to prepare the next generation for the future of work and also how to work with the current generation of workers for the transition to new jobs, basically how to think of the new economy.

Many countries in east Asia, perhaps because of their centrally planned past and maybe present tend to take a longer view and consider whether it is okay to invest heavily in broadband, which has been discussed in Europe for many years and to consider whether it is a good thing to do or a priority. At least from what I know in most European countries, broadband is still considered something that is not really so essential - it is good to have but it is not like roads or bridges. Even in poorer east Asian countries, broadband is a right, so everybody needs to have access to it and governments are spending the money now because they realise that if they do not have broadband lots of people are excluded from business but also from preparing for the future.