Jaap van Duyn

Today an interview with Jaap van Duyn (Robeco Chief Investment Officer) in De volkskrant. His statement is simple: we're too rich. From a historical perspective we're in the same situation as the 18th century. After our golden age, we fell back and went into a 100 year recession. The wage of a carpenter in 1780 was the same as in 1680. Why? Because we were the best, and we got lazy. The Dutch financed the industrial revolution, but hardly profited from it.

He also complains about the management culture. The salaries are way too high, and that's because RvC's don't have financial gain in salary negotiations with top management. We need more entrepreneurs, less managers. His solution: education. The only thing you can honestly influence.