Possible explanation of the UK productivity gap

I'm sure you know about the UK productivity gap: the UK falls behind the US, Germany or France (more here if you want) in terms of output per hour worked. There are a lot of explanations for this such as less skilled workers, lower capital invested per worker or less effective management in the UK.

This is all good but I'm pointing to another source: the average Brit spends way too much time on the Internet looking for porn. I'm not joking... according to a survey, the UK leads the world in terms of porn download with 40% of male having visited a pornographic web site in 2005 and an increasing number of female as well.

This should be a great subjet for a PhD students: The impact of porn web site on UK productivity. I'm sure there is a correlation!

The Prof strike back

I guess it was only a matter of time that Faculty would start blogging. I'm not sure about other Schools but I'm quite sure MBAProf is the first London Business School blog run by a Professor. It is anonymous but I may have an idea about the author.

Welcome to the London Business School blogging community and yes... we want some good gossips and stories from your side!

More pictures

Due to high demand :) I'm posting a few more pictures. As you may have guessed, photography is one of my hobbies. I have started more than 10 years ago during one of my first backpacking trip in Tanzania and since then, I have accumulated thousands of pictures, mostly slides. I've resisted digital camera but my Powershot SD500 is taking amazing pictures so the next step will probably be a Digital SLR.

I also carry a Polaroid with me take a picture of people and offer it them. I find it also a good way to break the barrier, especially with kids.

Impressive Taj Mahal

Mobile stall in Bikaner

Where is the electrician?

Kids left to themselves between Jaipur and Bikaner

In Jaipur. I wonder what's in theses bags?

Women coming back from field work

Pictures of India

I haven't blogged in ages and I wonder if I still have some readers on that blog. We are now mid-term which means that there just more than one month to go before the end of the MBA...

I still have my head banging with souvenirs from India so I'll post a couple of pictures here but I must already prepare my next trip for this summer (I know, tough life). After some hesitations between South America and South East Asia, we have decided to go to the latter. We are probably going to travel 6-7 weeks between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. By the way, if you have some tips for this region, please do post them in the comments... I'll let you know more and meanwhile, enjoy some of my pictures from India.

Camel taking some rest between Agra and Jaipur

Stall at local market in small town between Jaipur and Bikaner

Kids posing for the picture between Jaipur and Bikaner

Our car parked Mandawa

Indian fire extinguisher :)

Elephant ridding in a crowded Delhi street

Nice kid in Jodhpur

Elephants for tourists in Amjer fort (Jaipur)

Women carrying water in Jalsaimer desert

Girl drawing off water from the well

The Taj Mahal itself reflecting in a puddle

Care for some spicy food?

Rudimentary camping in the desert in Jalsaimer

Great music (Jalsaimer)

Lake Palace hotel in Udaipur (no we did not stay there)

I have probably over a thousand pictures so I can post some more if you want. For info, I am using either a Digital Canon Powershot SD500 or a old Nikon F-401 loaded with color slides.

Back in London

I came back last week after this fantastic trip to India. I'll post some pictures once I've sorted them (about 600)... The trip was great: food was spicy, people were nice, places beautiful, weather was hot (up to 40° Celcius) and I really had a blast. I'll try to blog more frequently now that I'm back and that my last term is not so busy.