2008 part I

So what happened this year? Well too much to be honest. It's all kind of blurry already, but I’ll try to put it into perspective today and tomorrow.

Well the first thing worth mentioning here is the Ski trip that I made to Are, Sweden from the 6th to the 13th of January. Tried snowboarding for the first time. The beginning was quite painful, but as the days progressed I really learnt how to stand on this slippery piece of wood...until one day before leaving I fell and totally twisted my elbow. The goddamn thing hurt even too month later eventually ruining my FC Toompea so called pre season training. But then again, in 2009 I will definitely do it again, but skip the last part hopefully. Oh, and the crew was nice. I think there were about 12 of us, whom about half of them I hadn't met before.

January also saw quite extensive work schedule: mainly meetings on the next Estonian Lisbon strategy, a three day consulting trip to Malmö, where I reside now. Also Triin's and Martin's wedding in Pilguse manor house in Saaremaa. Was nice and strangely enough took me back to this place again in summer. Will write about it later in part II.

February. I remember an interesting two day lecture on the Singaporean economy and its development path, which was held in the Estonian Development Fund. Main message: how to run a country like an enterprise. Key words: effectiveness, responsibility and "consensus". Those who have studied it, know why I stress the last word. A conference called Tuulelohe Lend, which was I think one of the first arenas where people started to discuss the effects of the Estonian economic downturn. But even then it was pretty much based on the April events of 2007 aka effects on transit. Then our little crew had our traditional winter days near Otepää. To be honest, this year wasn't something exceptional... Then one day in Helsinki as my calendar says - preparing the joint R&D council meeting for April. Again two short consulting trips to Malmö and a presentation on the Estonian ICT strategy and politics in London on eGoverment Conference. Remember meeting Lucy and Marius and those cocktails on Marlboro road…were excellent!

March was calmer travelling wise - took me again for two, two day trips to Malmö. Lot of meetings and work though - innovation and science policy council meetings, preparing PM's meetings with other ministers, Estonian forest sector developments, VISION ERA-NET meeting, energy technologies etc. I also remember Annabret graciously dancing in peter Paan in Tartu and the removal of one of my tooth. One very pleasant the other one not so... Lastly FC Toompea started it's season with a 2:1 victory over FC Soccernet. No goals from me, I as far as I can remember. Oh, and one more thing, February also made me a proud owner of a motorbike, Honda Hornet 900. Long time dream coming true, I guess.

April started with the annual European Commission delegations visit to Estonia assessing the progress of our structural reforms. Another two days in Malmö and then the joint Council meeting that I already described before on the 15th of April. 16th of April was a filming day for a management game on ETV. The last episode - we talked about our work and gave the assessors a crack at an assignment. Anyway, we won the game, which took us to London. 17th and 18th I spent in Brussels in a seminar on R&D impact assessment, but not really sure though... Might have been?! UK the from 24th to the 29th. Was in Brighton after a while staying at Rami's, visiting the old Lion and the Lobster, Bazak's joint ect. The end bit was in London attending the management seminar. Presentations by Kjsell Nordström and Peter Drucker (hope this is how you spell these names). Was interesting, especially the first one, but still nothing much I took with me though, except maybe the talent on how to make interesting PowerPoint’s.

May, also very work related - 5 days in Malmö and otherwise loads’s of meetings and writing of different papers. I also remember a research and development council meeting, weekends in Tartu and Saaremaa and Strategy Office's birthday party.

To be continued…

Lisbon process

Was reading some ex-work related stuff this week and saw this interesting graph measuring the productivity and employment growth of EU nations (two main goals set in Lisboa in 2000).


Interesting isn't it? What about measuring the impact of structural reforms brought about by the Lisbon process? Is it affected by the convergence process, the ability to react quickly by small states (and thus also have bigger impacts maybe?), or pro/anti cyclical characteristics of the economy that really determine these figures/this graph? I guess all of it at the same time, but the outcome X has very different stress levels or dominant factors on each country. And then how do you actually compare them on the aggregate EU level to make any kind comparative analysis possible let alone make recommendations? OK, I guess it is easy for the developing countries because there probably is an existing more or less rational development path for them, but what happens when you are already at the top? What got you here, won't get you there as someone once said.

Nagu kaks tilka vett...

Told this to Inga the other day and then thought i will also post it here.

Compare this (President Ilves Eesti majandusest) and this (A Personal Message From Tony Robbins) to each other. Remarkably similar things with a 9 day lag. Ideas travel, i guess...

I really do not think the first one of them is the best effort to "calm" the Estonian citizens in the midst of the financial/economic crises and drive the politicians towards more "responsible" budgetary process. Honestly, i believe that this could have been done in a better and more effective way without the bling and Macs in the background... As for Robbins - having only lately discovered the idea behind his blog, i still think it is better focused and suited to his audience. Plus the content is also fresh in this situation.

British Humor

Today my dear friend Ray received the following e-mail from his friend in England...

In light of the recent earthquake here in Skåne I’m sending you a picture taken in Malmö just seconds after the disaster!



Ironic bastards, aren't they!

Tackilng Earthquakes while Sleeping

It was a strange night yesterday. As a bad omen i tested my so called new washing machine, which didn't let me fall asleep due to its vicious drying program before 1 o'clock. Having then successfully fallen asleep i just opened my eyes before the earthquake at around 6:20 realizing as if something was wrong with things. And then, i felt it. What was the strangest thing about it, was the noise that came from the ground. Somewhat scary - like end of days of something. But of course, in the morning i still wasn't sure what had happened. So just to be sure, opened the computer to find this: http://www.thelocal.se/16374/20081216/ Ohh, well, it was true then.

The Saga Continues...

Mr. Kattel argues in today's Eesti Päevaleht that new economic thought is needed in Estonia and i also think on a wider scale. A bit accusatory is the whole article, isn't it?

I kind of agree that the whole notion of the industrial policy will probably be redefined, making the growth sectors even more protected by governments that they are at the moment. But what is the talk about the Estonian workforce regulation? It is a fact that we are one of the worst/rigid in this aspect according to the word bank (The Economist used the same indicator set this week when describing the Indian economy) and other evaluators. And, hey, what about looking at the real figures - i think in the period from 2007 to 2013 the investments into training and lifelong learning will threefold in Estonia.

I understand that Mr. Kattel wants a more in depth discussion on the new measures and approaches that Estonia should take up - he feels the discussion to be too hollow today. I have two recommendations - please propose things what we should do, where we should be looking to. Secondly, maybe this is the level were we can operate? Maybe, this is how much we understand world economics?

Forget Adam Smith, Whatever Works or Industrial Policy Revisited

Was reading an old BusinessWeek yesterday evening and after the lines "As America struggles to recover from the deep recession that likely lies ahead, a new economic model could take shape that would involve a great deal more than direct government involvement in the world of Wall Street. It could mean greater support of such industries as autos, nanotech, and renewable energies, which face fierce global competition. And it certainly spells a return of heavier regulation. It is far too early to predict that the U.S. is headed down the road of Asia-style industrial policy or the kinds of interventions imposed during the Great Depression, when bureaucrats seized and micromanaged entire industries." got me thinking that the protection of new industries let alone the old critical ones (Chrysler, GM etc) will probably become even more acute in the days to come. Shall we see a new even more stronger competition for/protection of the so called knowledge based enterprises? But then again, ironically, what caused the mess in the fist place were knowledge intensive financial services.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Was walking down the beach today (see pictures below) and was wondering how do you come up with this combination of words. Mysterious and yet so to the point - I probably can’t.


So first week in Sweden has passed. And how do I feel? Quite strange, to be honest - both work and life wise. However I feel I need more time to be objective with you. So I will not go into the feelings and emotions yet, but instead try to describe what I have been doing here over the past week.


Well, not much. Firstly I think it was the first time over quite many years that I went to bed before 11 on Friday. Felt strange even to myself. However on Saturday I made it up a bit and went to David’s Christmas party. Was, again, strange seeing all the Swedes talk in Swedish and actually not understanding a single bit sometimes. A little bit of white wine and some fussy conversations about the Swedish banking industry were the best bits. Otherwise nothing special or bright.

Saw two quite good films this week: Zeitgeist and Magnolia. The first one started off quite brightly but ended up doing the same thing as it was accusing the “mass media” doing i.e. amplifying the signal. The interesting bit to me was the last one due to a book I’m reading: The History of Wall Street. Bought it from NYC in the beginning of November and have been obsessed ever since. But yeah, basically history of Wall Street has been about cornering markets and as it seems to me today things only happen on a greater scale with probably the main cause hidden. Magnolia. Hmm, that one was a really good. A bit depressing at times, but still really good. Even the frogs in the end were good, not overblown as some say. My real discovery was Mr. Cruise, who I think played a really good role. There’s something about that man, or how good he is. And the setting was also very acute do to the fact that Mr. Robbins has been very active lately sending his newsletters to me “due to the difficult times”. Anyways, I recommend both of the movies.


What else? Sweden is a bit clinical as one of my friend once said. But more humane than Estonia and dangerously bourgeois. Yesterday for example I wanted to get a coffee in the old town, but couldn’t. It was all really packed – the Swedish families were doing their safe Christmas shopping and having a coffee or dinner outside afterwards. No signs of economic recession. But then again I wasn’t here last Christmas, so I do not have the comparative benchmark.

Next week hopefully brings me my flat and more work, I think.