Sergio Haddad of Educative Action, a charity, also points to the lack of a stable career path.

ECONOMIST: Start at the beginning

Food stamps also help stimulate the economy more than other forms of government spending, points out Jim Weill of Food Research and Action Centre, a charity, since their recipients are so poor that they tend to spend them immediately.

ECONOMIST: Food stamps

Paul Barter of the Sustainable Transport Action Network, in Kuala Lumpur, points out that in Asia only a handful of large cities, such as Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and (at least until a couple of years ago) Seoul, have succeeded in containing congestion.

ECONOMIST: A survey of commuting