17 must-read stories for the weekend

Finding work or getting a loan is much tougher when you can’t say where you live. To help end poverty, everyone needs an address.

The wrong kind of graduates. Employers don’t get enough candidates with technical degrees or ‘soft skills’. Introducing students to businesses before they choose a course is helping to narrow the skills gap.

Taming sovereign debt crises. Effective international debt laws are essential if we are to end the chaos and unfairness that happens when governments go bust.

Which are the world’s fastest-growing economies? China and India make the list, others may surprise you.

China’s dynamic state-owned firms. The private sector gets all the credit for China’s long economic boom. New research shows that state enterprises also played a vital role.

Saving Greece. Five years of austerity haven’t resolved its debt crisis. There might be another way.

In our podcast this week: The Ebola outbreak holds lessons for future crises. How can we build stronger health systems?

How do you measure innovation? It’s a question we’ve been puzzling over at the World Economic Forum. (Washington Post)

Business and climate: the hype and the reality. “You wait decades for business leaders to address climate change, then 43 global CEOs call for concrete action all at once.” (Guardian)

World Economic Forum’s India summit to put spotlight on Modi-led government’s policies. (Economic Times)

Are public-private partnerships the secret to quality schools? They’ve worked for technology access and infrastructure, and could transform education, said panelists at the Forum’s meeting in Africa. (Quartz)

Doing business in Colombia. The country needs to reform its legal and administrative systems if it wants more international investment. Cites Forum research. (Bloomberg)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledges boost to innovation in discussions ahead of the World Economic Forum’s September meeting in Dalian. (Ecns.cn)

Boost equality to boost growth. Concentrating wealth actually reduces economic growth, whilst making the poor and middle classes richer lifts all boats, according to IMF research.

Adam Smith famously studied a pin factory, and concluded that productivity was linked to specialisation and the division of labour. But that is not the whole story.

The decline in US power is making the world dangerously unstable, says George Soros. The best way to avoid global conflict would be astrategic alliance between America and China.

Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” speech in the film ‘Wall Street’ epitomised a certain kind of culture in finance firms. Changing culture isn’t easy, but behavioural risk management could help businesses mitigate the ‘Gekko effect’.

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Author: Adrian Monck is Managing Director and head of Public Engagement at the World Economic Forum.

Image: A general view of the office buildings and Guomao Bridge (bottom) in Beijing’s Central Business District, August 4, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Lee