Same difference

Guess what Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos have in common? For one, all three are economists and, for another, all three head coalition governments. Papademos and Singh have another point of similarity: both were governors of their respective central banks — Singh headed the Reserve Bank of India between 1982 and 1985 and Papademos was Governor of the Bank of Greece from 1994 to 2002. The major point of difference, of course, is that Monti and Papademos, both of whom took charge in November last year, head countries that are neck-deep in financial and economic crises. Singh doesn't have to face that problem as prime minister — he addressed that particular crisis as finance minister almost 21 years ago.