Shocking: Economist Applies Common Sense to Real World Challenges

While the Rumsfeldian "Old Europe" is looking for new excuses to do the same old things, new Europe is looking at breaking taboos and slaying sacred cows to add dynamism to their economies.

Joanna Tyrowicz takes action when she’s got a point to make.

Rather than writing scientific papers about the inefficiencies of the Polish government unemployment service, the assistant economics professor had her students send e-mails to 416 job centers across Poland. They purported to be from a company seeking to hire a driver, a warehouse cleaner, an accountant and a salesperson. 

Only nine of the employment offices posted the offer on their bulletin board or website, while about 300 didn’t reply. The rest asked for more detail.

The service is “a completely redundant institution,” said Tyrowicz, 31, in an interview at the central bank in Warsaw, where she also works preparing reports for the rate-setting Monetary Policy Council. “It doesn’t collect postings, it doesn’t give postings to the unemployed, it doesn’t broker jobs. This has to be fixed.”

As they say, RTWT.  Another real world experiment.  I'm betting on Poland over say France.