INSEAD: The world’s smartest countries

Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative | July 12, 2017 [caption id="attachment_3479" align="aligncenter" width="650"] The countries most likely to produce the next Google.[/caption] When Sergey Brin was 16 and his family had already been living in the United States for a decade, his father took him on a short trip back to Russia. It was 1990 and the Soviet Union was collapsing. By the second day of the trip, the teenager had seen enough to grasp what his life could have been. Taking his father aside, the future co-founder of Google told him in earnest: “Thank you for taking us all out of Russia.” Although Russia has since rebounded, young Brin won the citizenship lottery, having been raised in the U.S. where he had access to great schooling and an environment to nurture his brain. As a child, he received a Montessori education, known for cultivating creativity. Later he went on to study at Stanford University where he met Larry Page and together they would go on to found one of the most valuable brands in the world. Brin’s story illustrates how – given the proper environment – education and creativity can give rise to transformative innovation in the…

WEF: ¿Qué países ofrecen a sus ciudadanos la mejor educación superior?

25 May 2017 Kai Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative Los responsables políticos tendrán que asegurar que la educación terciaria de alta calidad sea accesible para todos, no solo para la élite. La educación superior inclusiva podría cerrar las divisiones sociales que separan a la sociedad Las universidades son vitales para el desarrollo del capital humano. Son piezas fundamentales de la economía mundial del conocimiento. Si bien alguna vez solo estuvo disponible para unos pocos, la educación superior ahora es casi un requisito para el ingreso a la clase media, y más aún a las filas de la élite. La competencia entre universidades ha dado origen a clasificaciones que intentan determinar cuáles son las más competitivas a nivel mundial. En general, estas listas se basan en métricas como la producción de investigación, el prestigio y los logros de los exalumnos. Aunque las distintas medidas producen clasificaciones diferentes, las principales universidades del mundo son muy similares en todas las evaluaciones. La cantidad de universidades reconocidas a nivel mundial de un país se utiliza siempre para medir la calidad de su educación superior. Sin embargo, esta perspectiva pasa por alto la creciente desigualdad de la educación superior. El desafío de…

INSEAD: The World’s Most Powerful Languages

Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative | May 22, 2017 What leaders should know about English and other languages competing for global influence. Should we all emulate Mark Zuckerberg and embrace speaking Mandarin? In April this year, U.S. President Donald Trump’s grandchildren (aged 5 and 2) engaged in soft diplomacy at the highest level when they sang in Mandarin for the Chinese president and his wife. Ten years ago, investor Jim Rogers even moved to Asia to provide his daughters with a strong Chinese learning environment. Language opens doors. Speaking more tongues means more opportunities to participate in conversations… or eavesdrop on them. It’s also clear that the power of a language goes beyond simple head count, not to mention that it’s difficult to count the number of speakers of a language given their various proficiencies. As someone who became a polyglot (five languages) in my 40s – proving that picking up languages in later years is not insurmountable – I grew interested in ranking the usefulness of languages in a scientific manner. I created the Power Language Index (PLI) as a thought experiment: If an alien were to land on Earth, what language would serve it…

WEF: Which countries provide their citizens with the best higher education?

04 May 2017 Kai Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative Universities are vital for developing human capital. They are essential cogs in the global knowledge economy. Where once only available to few, higher education is now almost a requirement for entry to the middle class, and even more so to the ranks of the elite. Competition among universities has given rise to rankings that try to ascertain which are the globally most competitive. These lists are typically based on metrics such as research output, prestige and accomplishments of alumni. Although the various measures produce different orderings, the global top schools are highly similar across the assessments. The number of globally-ranked schools in a country is then invariably used to measure the quality of higher education there. However, this perspective overlooks the growing inequality of higher education. The challenge of our time: inequality Inequality is one of society’s biggest challenges. But much of that debate has centred on inequality of income and wealth; much less attention has been paid to inequality of opportunity for high-quality tertiary education. Yet, inequality of education is a driver of income inequality and a force behind assortative mating – privileged people tend to go…

naseba: 12th annual human capital forum MENA

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Intelligence Capital Index

Article in World Monitor Magazine about the my Intelligence Capital Index. ABOUT In a global knowledge economy, education and creativity are paramount to being competitive. The Intelligence Capital Index (ICI) is a way to gauge the ability of countries to capitalise on the knowledge economy by assessing their environments for education, creativity and talent attraction. The ICI is a barometer a nation’s stock of “smarts”. It measures which nations are most likely to expand the frontier of knowledge and/or introduce the technology and innovations of the knowledge economy. Hitherto, most assessments of a country’s knowledge base have been focused on the quantity of education and, when outputs are considered, it is invariably limited to average scholastic performance (in the form of standardised test results). But this view of quantity and of averages is misguided when considering the intelligence capital of a country. In contrast to alternative measures of human capital and talent, the ICI has several distinguishing features: (i) It adjusts for quality in education outcomes; (ii) It measures the progression of cognitive skills through the human life cycle; (iii) It considers the distribution of cognitive skills with an emphasis on the top performers; and (iv) It includes an external…

INSEAD: A new global measure of gender progress

A new global measure of gender progress Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative | April 20, 2017 [caption id="attachment_3383" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Societies should look beyond where women fall behind and instead try to tap the full potential of both sexes.[/caption] Inequality is the “defining issue of our time”, said then U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 and again in 2013. The next year Pope Francis tweeted that inequality was the root of all social evil. And the IMF issued a report in 2015 framing income inequality as the “defining challenge of our time”. Where does gender fit in the inequality picture? In most countries, women who want to work face more hurdles than men and, when employed, are often paid less for the same work. Another report by the IMF showed how gender income gaps dampen productivity and growth at the worldwide level. There’s no question that closing gender gaps – typically understood as giving women equal rights – is a pressing issue. However, I would argue that just as society loses when women fall short, so too when men are stifled. What Jack can do so can Jill, and vice versa Take countries like Rwanda, Nicaragua…

PAW: Powerful Languages

Princeton Alumni Weekly (April 12, 2017) IN RESPONSE TO: WHEN LANGUAGE IS MORE THAN WORDS I was happy to see that PAW’s Jan. 11 edition was dedicated to languages. In a globalized world and in multicultural societies, knowledge of languages helps to facilitate communication and bring us closer together. In my work as a researcher with the INSEAD business school, I recently developed the Power Language Index (based on 20 indicators covering five opportunities afforded by language) as a means to measure the efficacy of languages. Not surprisingly, English is (by far) the most powerful language. Mandarin, French, Spanish, and Arabic round out the top five. In a world where we are losing languages — and with it culture — it is important to remind people of humanity’s linguistic dividend and the need to preserve our tongues. Moreover, given the political climate where there is backlash (by some) against those for not speaking English in America, it should be reminded that although English is the most powerful language in our era, true power comes to those who learn a second (or third) language. Kai L. Chan *08 Dubai, United Arab Emirates © 2017 The Trustees of Princeton University Letter as it appeared…

Qatar’s gender gap is one of the largest in the world, new index says

  MARCH 17, 2017 by VICTORIA SCOTT Qatar is home to one of the most unequal societies in the world when it comes to gender, according to a new index. The country ranked 117th out of 122 nations listed in business school INSEAD‘s Gender Progress Index 2017, which was released this month. That puts Qatar behind all of its Gulf peers. According to the report, the low score had to do with a lack of female political involvement, as well as the low number of men pursuing higher education in Qatar. That said, none of the Gulf countries fared particularly well in the index. The UAE was the highest-ranked GCC nation at 85th. Kuwait was 99th, Bahrain 103rd, Saudi Arabia 110th and Oman was 113th. ‘Uneven development’ The index covers five different aspects of a nation: education, health, labor, political involvement and society. Within each of these sections are several different parameters. These include PISA scores, obesity and mortality rates, shares of seats in positions of power and parental leave allowances. Qatar’s poor score is due to its “uneven development,” the report’s author and INSEAD economist Dr. Kai Chan told Doha News. “While good in some areas, it (Qatar’s development) is not balanced,” he said. A different kind of index According to Chan, this…

WEF: 如果存在欧洲难民国，那这将是怎样的一个国家？

Chinese language version of WEF Agenda article: If Europe's refugees were a country, this is what it would look like (14 Mar 2017). 2017年03月17日 目前，欧洲正面临二战以来最严重的难民危机，移民主要来自中东和非洲。不同文化间的碰撞融合使欧洲局势更加紧张，威胁着整个大陆的团结。 我们需要认识到难民对于接收国的价值，这一点至关重要。认识到对饱受战乱之苦民众所负有的道德法律义务也同样重要。 同时，不能简单地认为担忧移民现象的人有排外情绪或种族歧视，否则就是在煽动抵制情绪、播撒分裂的种子，而这一幕正在欧洲和美国上演。 所以，我们应在深入了解眼前问题的基础上，开诚布公地探讨这些问题。 欧洲难民危机的相关数据 下图是2014年10月至2015年10月欧盟地区接收移民的相关情况。 下面，我们来分析一下新移民的社会人口特征。 假想一个由这些移民构成的国家，国民可分为申请人和已获居住权或政治庇护权的人，相关重要数据如下表所示。这些数据基于难民输出国潜在变量的加权平均值而得来，显示了难民国和接收国之间的巨大差异。 如果450多万难民组成一个国家，那么该国大小相当于爱尔兰，但平均财富值却仅与乌克兰差不多。在这个假想的难民国里，人均受教育年限为欧盟的一半，四分之一的成人、七分之一的青少年（15岁至24岁）目不识丁，只有不到40%的人读完高中、20%的人受过高等教育。 排除国民素质因素，在人力资本方面，难民国人均研究生管理科学入学考试（GMAT）得分比欧盟人均得分的标准差小1。 大部分移民是男性，多来自男女不平等的国家。世界经济论坛发布的《全球性别差距报告》指出，难民国在男女平等指标上的表现与沙特阿拉伯、埃及、摩洛哥相当。 难民国的人类发展指数，即全社会的生活品质、受教育程度和健康水平的综合指标，只略高于联合国开发计划署规定的“低级人类发展指数”，相当于东帝汶和孟加拉国的水平。 融合的挑战 身处异国，根深蒂固的习惯和深入骨髓的价值观并不会立刻改变。政策制定者需要确保欧盟接纳的难民能够适应欧洲大陆的规则。 当前的挑战在于，人们倾向于遵守自己社交网络里的行为准则和文化习惯，与同种族、共文化、通语言、同信仰的人交往甚密。比如，美国的大部分白人都没有来自少数种族的好友。 对于这一倾向，人们通常会选择自欺欺人、视而不见。史蒂文·莱维特研究约会模式时发现，即使有些人在交友档案上宣称“不在乎对方的种族”，但大多数人寻找的另一半几乎都是同种族。 婚姻是促进种族融合的有力手段。欧洲人对近亲结婚嗤之以鼻，但这一行为在向欧盟输出难民的国家里却非常普遍。 饮食文化也可以促进融合。然而，以上数据显示，难民国和接收国的生活方式差异过大，导致这条路也走不通了。大部分穆斯林，尤其是虔诚的穆斯林都不饮酒或吃猪肉，而酒肉却在欧盟文化中不可或缺（尤其是在德国）。这个饮食习惯可看作是衡量文化差距的指标。每年，欧洲人都能喝11公升以上的纯酒，而来自穆斯林国家的移民几乎滴酒不沾。同样，猪肉虽是欧盟国家的主要肉食，但在移民国家的食谱上却无足轻重。因此，难民国与接收国的民众之间发展饮食社交的希望渺茫，融合进程困难重重。 从欧盟和德国劳动市场的结构和需求来看，新移民的就业前景十分暗淡。德国奉行知识经济，以精准制造业享誉世界，所以德国对高技能劳动力的需求最大。新近移民的总体教育水平低，移民掌握的技能似乎无法满足欧洲（尤其是德国）的需求。 对LGBT（L:女同，G：男同，B：双性恋者，T：跨性别者）人群的看法也与大部分欧洲人的态度相左。同样的，数据显示许多新移民原籍国没有容纳少数民族的传统。这样的价值观会妨碍他们融入欧盟，毕竟欧盟多元文化相互交融，对性问题也比较开放包容。 最后，语言对融入社会最为重要。尽管有四分之一的新移民懂点英语，但八分之一的移民来自拉丁语国家。只有不到2%的人会说德语。 那么，我们该如何应对这些挑战呢？ 本文并非让大家抓住差异不放，也不是要制造分歧。政策制定者需要先对这些差异进行量化分析，才能开展以下三项重要工作： 1. 了解促进难民融入需要付出何种努力； 2. 评估接收国容纳和融入难民的能力； 3. 解决而非忽视非常普遍的同质化交往和分选问题。 纵观欧洲的移民史及移民融入史，可以知道，移民融入并非易事。吉普赛人在欧洲生活了上百年，但仍是社会边缘群体。在当代，阿拉伯和土耳其移民无法很好地融入当地社会，默克尔因此评论说：“多元文化主义已完全落败。” 如果政府不采取积极性干预措施促进移民融入，银民最终会在欧洲国家形成大规模的亚种群。虽然与当地居民一同生活，却无法拥有高质量的生活条件。 本文所指出的差距将会不断扩大，并进而限制欧盟、尤其是德国的发展。对于移民的社会人口特征及移民与接收国的文化差距，政治家应坦诚交流，而不是选择逃避。 如果各方不进行开诚布公的沟通，难民危机只会为煽动民众的政客提供更多说辞，甚至在全社会引发抵制移民的浪潮。 作者：Kai Chan， 欧洲工商管理学院创新与政策倡议杰出学者 以上内容仅代表作者个人观点。 本文由世界经济论坛原创，转载请注明来源并附上原文链接 责编：刘博睿 世界经济论坛·达沃斯博客是一个独立且中立的平台,旨在集合各方观点,讨论全球、区域及行业性重要话题。 作者是 Kai Chan , Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative 世界经济论坛是一个独立且中立的平台，以上内容仅代表作者个人观点 © 2019 世界经济论坛 Article as it appeared online.