Geachte heer dr. Maas (if that's quite the way to do it!) I quite agree that it's good for Europe to retain its own intellectual life, and not become an adjunct of the US. But I guess I doubt that ranking systems do it. On the contrary, isn't it true that they elevate precisely those academics who most energetically follow American "standards" (e.g. every economic problem just is a constrained maximization problem; social justice that can't be put into a utilitarian framework is silly; econometrics undersood as mindless tests of statistical significance just is empirical economics; history is a waste of time; philosophy is, too)? I see just that in the Netherlands and in Britain and in Spain, but do not pretend to native competence in those academic cultures (well: maybe almost in Britain). But I do have native competence in American academic culture. Let me tell you as a native that reports of the dominance of corporations and the Department of "Defense" are greatly exaggerated! The great bulk of American academics, and even the easily corrupted economists, are dominated by (erroneous) ideas, not by their Interests. Hoogachtend, Deirdre McCloskey