Anders Hultin of Kunskapsskolan, a chain of 26 Swedish schools founded by a venture capitalist in 1999 and now running at a profit, says its schools only rarely have to invoke the first-come-first-served rule the chain has responded to demand by expanding so fast that parents keen to send their children to its schools usually get a place.

ECONOMIST: Education vouchers

Although Roche is delivering the drug on a first-come-first-served basis, there have been some notable exceptions to this rule: the company was quick to send tens of thousands of packs to Indonesia, Turkey and Romania during their recent outbreaks.

ECONOMIST: Calls for more money as the threat looms ever larger | The