Marc Hyman's Blog, page 5

Estonia is one of the world's least-corrupt nations

I discuss in my book a few instances of petty corruption that I observed in Estonia in 1992, including [in chapter 8:] a deal to reclaim a confiscated drivers license by bribing a policeman with a gift of cognac and roses.

But this sort of corruption was the exception rather than the rule, and it struck me as a vestige of the Soviet survival toolkit rather than anything deeply rooted in Estonian culture. In 1992 and in the succeeding five years that I lived in the country, I found that most...

Number of Estonians out of work sets a new record

This has been a big week for bad economic news from Estonia. Fast on the heels of Thursday's depressing GDP report, Statistics Estonia, the official Estonian statistics agency, yesterday published the 3rd quarter unemployment figures — and they are not pretty. Both the number of people unemployed (102,000) and the overall unemployment rate (14.6%) are at record-high levels for the current era of Estonian independence, dating back to 1991.

Estonia now has the third-highest unemployment rate in...

Has the Estonian economy turned the corner?

Economic activity at Keskturg (Tallinn Central Market)

The official estimate of Estonia's third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was released today by Statistics Estonia. The number is grim, but if you squint and tilt your head a bit you might—just possibly—be able to see the glass as half-full.

The total value of all goods and services produced by Estonia in the July-through-September period this year declined by 15.3% compared to what was produced in the comparable period of 2008.

To...

Before the Berlin Wall fell, hands were joined across the Baltic States

Today we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the most visually arresting symbol of the collapse of totalitarianism across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

But this collapse was a multi-year process which began, arguably, with the Solidarity workers' strikes in Gdansk in 1980 and didn't end until the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

While the demolition of the Berlin Wall captured the bulk of the Western media's attention, it...

Estonian boots on the ground in Afghanistan

As the United States ponders its future military strategy in Afghanistan, let's take a moment to consider Estonia's contributions to NATO's efforts in that conflict.

Estonia joined Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002, and the following year its troops were folded into the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Estonia currently has 289 soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, most of whom are deployed in Helmand Province, where fighting is fierce. Estonia's Afghan contingent...

Tallinn begins to prepare for its turn as European Capital of Culture

Beginning in 1985, the European Commission has showcased one or more cities each year as the European Capital of Culture. The designation serves to foster arts and cultural programs and promote tourism in the chosen cities. Vilnius and Linz are this year's Cultural Capitals, and for 2011 the anointed cities are Turku and Tallinn. (Riga's turn will come in 2014.)

And crafty Tallinners have devised a way to stretch one year into two. Foundation Tallinn 2011, the organization charged with...

Gender inequality persists in Estonia

Estonia is making achingly-slow progress toward gender equality, and the country still has a long way to go. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2009, Estonian women are about 71 percent as empowered as Estonian men. This ratio has been creeping upward, albeit at a snail's pace, over the past four years. But other countries are improving more quickly, so Estonia's standing in the world, which fell in 2007 and 2008, remained stuck at 37th place in 2009.

The annual...

Estonia struggles to achieve gender equality

Estonia is making achingly-slow progress toward gender equality, but the country still has a long way to go. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2009, Estonian women are about 71 percent as empowered as Estonian men. This ratio has been creeping upward, albeit at a snail's pace, over the past four years. But other countries are improving more quickly, so Estonia's standing in the world fell in 2007 and 2008, and the country remained stuck in 37th place in the...

Why did The Economist overlook Estonia?

I blogged recently about Estonia's achievement at being included, for the fourth consecutive year, among the global top ten in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annual press freedom index. Unfortunately this news seems to have escaped the notice of the editors of The Economist Newspaper (sic). Or perhaps they preferred simply to ignore it, since Estonia's standing on the list would have diluted their argument, set out in this week's issue (October 24th 2009), that "media freedom is under...

Remembering Estonia's tragic history

Estonia is often depicted as a place of quirky and tech-savvy coolness and the country has, for the most part, earned its hip reputation. But as fun as it may be to write or blog about the country's cheap booze, pretty women, ever-expanding wireless hotspots, wife-carrying domination, etc., we shouldn't forget that Estonia's experience for much of the 20th century was pretty rotten.

The first modern era of independence (1918 – 1940) is usually remembered as a rose-tinted idyll, but it was...