This is favouring the market leaders most, says Heidi Gardner of Harvard Business School, because the crisis has made governments risk-averse about whom they hire.

ECONOMIST: Professional-services firms

During the relatively modest downturn at the start of this decade, for example, many professional-services firms cut too deeply, especially in their lower ranks, and found they were poorly positioned when strong growth resumed sooner than expected, says Heidi Gardner of Harvard Business School.

ECONOMIST: Human capital and the crisis

Which brings us to the theory of Multiple Intelligences, first put forth in the 80s by psychologist and Harvard Professor of Neuroscience, Howard Gardner.

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