Word: focus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...renewed focus on the farm is being driven by more than fear. Development experts believe a new approach to farming is crucial in order to lift up the world's remaining poor, 75% of whom live in rural areas. Swayed by the success of East Asia, the primary poverty-fighting method favored by many policymakers was to get farmers off their farms and into modern jobs in factories and urban centers. But that strategy has proven insufficient. Income levels in the countryside badly trail those in cities in many countries, while the FAO estimates that the number of poor going...
...More and more of them invest in labs or radiology clinics so they generate revenue not just from the procedures they do themselves but also from the ones they farm out. Others buy state-of-the-art diagnostic hardware and charge state-of-the-art fees to use it. "Focus on your bottom line," urges a brochure for in-office CT-scan machines from one manufacturer. And as long as insurers pay the bills, patients don't ask what things cost. "A colonoscopy used to take 45 minutes to perform," says Ted Epperly, board chairman of the American Academy...
...California scores poorly in most "business friendly" ratings, which tend to focus on tax rates and wage levels rather than on, say, worker productivity or creativity. And the state has more than its share of no-no-no types protesting nanotechnology, synthetic biology and even some SunPower solar-energy projects, which could possibly imperil kangaroo rats and fairy shrimp. But the state's business culture fetishizes long-shot ventures and game-changing ideas. Failure is appreciated, not stigmatized, and an entrepreneur without a few busted start-ups on his résumé is almost suspect. (See TIME's City...
Concern over the ability of teacher colleges to produce effective teachers has long existed and only increased as the focus of education policy has turned to accountability and data. As Duncan points out, one of his predecessors, Richard Riley, put ed colleges on notice a full decade ago. The difference, as Duncan never misses an opportunity to say, is that the Federal Government now has financial incentives through which to effect change - a $4.35 billion pot of competitive innovation grants and $43 million to support "residency" programs that put budding teachers in classrooms for longer periods of time under...
...economists said the country is likely to keep its foot on the gas to ensure the recovery doesn't falter. On Wednesday, the State Council, China's cabinet, said it would focus on achieving a balance between promoting growth, rebalancing the economy and "managing inflation expectations." Nomura economist Mingchun Sun argues that because the State Council's statement emphasized "expectations," rather than inflation itself, the government doesn't believe inflation is a major risk and will maintain a loose monetary policy in the near future...