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Business Daily

Factual: Money

The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.

Business Daily: The economics of war

18/04/2011

The economics of war

BBC World Service - Business Daily, The economics of war

Is economics the weapon that will finally unseat Colonel Gaddafi?

In Business Daily, is economics the weapon that will finally unseat Colonel Gaddafi, and how to rob a bank.

In today's Business Daily you will learn just how easy it can be to rob a bank - or at least to persuade a bank to give you a highly paid job.  

You might imagine it would would be near impossible for a thief to wheedle their way in to some important deal or a job with no real experience or credentials. Yet - just occasionally - they do just that. Our regular commentator Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times takes a nefarious delight in re-telling two such examples.

But our main story is about the economics of war and in particular whether it will ultimately be economics not military hardware that unseats Colonel Gaddafi.

The conflict in Libya is degenerating into a stalemate.  Col Gaddafi controls the section of the country around Triploi while the rebels hold the east and fight a series see-saw battles with pro-Gaddafi forces along the coast.  

The coalition air strikes continue, but, while weakening Gaddafi's forces, they have done little to unseat him from power. 

Justin Rowlatt asks Karin Maree, a Libya analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, whether sanctions will be more effective.

Plus, we all know good night's sleep helps get a good day's work done yet as many as a quarter of us say we don't sleep well.  

There is a vast industry around sleep with all sorts of potions and devices on offer.  The latest fashion is for sleep monitors - electronic devices that track sleeping patterns.  So are these just another quack cure?  

Justin Rowlatt interviews Julian Bolster who runs a life coaching company in Toronto and is a big fan of sleep monitors.  He advises his clients to use them and says they report significant improvements in the quality of their sleep.  

We also hear from a sleep expert about whether these devices really work.

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