Sbagliando s'impera

Il Financial Times pubblica (per il sesto anno) la classifica dei ministri dell’economia e delle finanze delle maggiori economie dell’Unione europea.

Naturalmente, per l’Italia c’è ancora Tremonti, che arriva penultimo.

ft.com

Qui sotto trovate una sintesi dei criteri di giudizio.

FT ranking of EU finance ministers: Striker amid stumblers – FT.com

The FT’s ranking of European finance ministers 2011 is based on political ability, economic performance and credibility in the markets. In each category, the 19 biggest European Union economies and their finance ministers received a ranking from one – the best – to 19. These were combined to give an overall rank.

The political aspect is based on the opinions of seven leading economists who judged the ministers on three criteria: their lucidity, or how well they understood events; their impact on the European stage; and their effectiveness at home.

The economic ranking was modified this year to reflect changes in the demands on finance ministers and their economic stewardship. It was based on seven performance measures: recovery in terms of gross domestic product compared with the pre-crisis peak; growth this year; deficit levels and the change since 2009; debt levels; projected change in unemployment from 2008 to 2013; and, finally, deviation of the country’s current account from balance.

Market credibility is judged by the current yield on outstanding 10-year bonds, as well as an assessment of how this yield has changed.

È noto da tempo che non c’è esperienza del sapore senza olfatto (la lingua è in grado di percepire 4 o al massimo 5 sapori base: salato, dolce, amaro, acido e “glutammico”). Un libro appena pubblicato del professor Gordon M. Shepherd, della Yale School of Medicine, Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters svela i misyteri del nostro sistema olfattivo e delle complesse interazioni tra bocca, naso e cervello. Salon intervista l’autore.

The science of taste – Food – Salon.com

Gordon M. Shepherd, professor of neurobiology at the Yale School of Medicine, has spent a lifetime researching the brain mechanisms involved in olfaction (our sense of smell) and its impact on flavor perception in the brain. His new book is “Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters,” out this month from Columbia University Press. Shepherd’s work is anchored in a burgeoning field within neuroscience — figuring out the mysteries behind our olfactory system, the ways in which smells are represented and processed in the brain.

Shepherd argues for the quintessential importance of olfaction in our everyday experience of food. Without smell, Shepherd says, there is no flavor. “Neurogastronomy” takes a detailed look at just how smelling in the nose, mouth and brain produces the unique experience of flavor that we associate with eating our favorite or least-favorite foods.

Credit: iStockphoto/apomares (salon.com)