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Business Daily: The wisdom of Socrates

The wisdom of Socrates

29/06/2012

BBC World Service - Business Daily, The wisdom of Socrates

Can the the debt dramas of the ancient world offer guidance to modern statesmen?

Can the the debt dramas of the ancient world offer guidance to modern statesmen?  And, how Europe's recovery from the Second World War says more about today's troubles than you might think.

Eurozone leaders are claiming a breakthrough at their summit in Brussels. Now, we're not pessimists here at Business Daily and no doubt these will prove substantial developments but history suggests that the path leading Europe back to prosperity will not be smooth.  

We've been looking back at the greatest trauma Europe has ever suffered in modern times - the Second World War - and the efforts to promote recovery after that terrible conflict.  

The key was the Marshall Plan - America's huge aid programme - but what's often forgotten is that at the heart of the plan was a strategy for dealing with the vast debts that the vanquished nations of Europe had run up - most particularly, those of  Germany.  

Justin Rowlatt interviews Albrecht Ritschl, Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics.

There may have been progress in Brussels this week but Greece's debt drama remains unresolved.  So, in keeping with today's history theme, we wondered whether the wisdom of ancient Greece could be any guide through the current crisis? 

Justin asked Dr Armand D'Angour, lecturer in classical languages and literature at Jesus College Oxford, what parallels there are between Greece's current troubles and those experienced in the ancient world. 

Plus: all this week we've been looking at the latest innovations in education as part of our Knowledge Economy series.  But what happens in times of war?  

Brendan O'Malley is a journalist who's spent his life studying the impact an interrupted education has on societies at war.  He explains how neglecting a country's education system in time of war becomes a huge problem for countries emerging from conflict.

(Image: A Greek flag flies next to a statue of Socrates in Athens. Credit: Aris Messinis /AFP / Getty Images)

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