For all its flaws, the Japanese system of job rotation and company-specific training provided its firms with some advantages over western rivals.

ECONOMIST: Sayonara, sarariman

If donors emphasize giving toward causes like vocational training, scholarships and region-specific job creation, the result will be lasting change for the better.

FORBES

The trouble, she says, is that the federal government runs lots of other programmes for low-income people, such as schemes giving money for job-training, but each of these is set up to serve a specific set of clients under rigid rules.

ECONOMIST: Helping the poor