After a yearlong, very public battle, Wasserstein got approval last fall from the nonworking partners, or capitalists, to take Lazard public.

FORBES: Lazard's A Laggard

And, of course, many working women are indeed happily and fruitfully married--it's just that they are less likely to be so than nonworking women.

FORBES: Careers And Marriage

With the IPO, he is wresting control of the 157-year-old firm away from a powerful group of nonworking partners led by Michel David-Weill , a descendant of the founder.

FORBES: Lazard's A Laggard

Indeed, Linda Lim, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at the University of Michigan Business School, notes that the country's puny savings rate, chronic budget deficits and high ratio of nonworking dependents to workers make it look more like a Latin American than an Asian nation.

FORBES: The Ronald Reagan of the Pacific