We do not deny here that in the search for productivity, various blunders have been committed, are being committed and – surely will be committed to the detriment of the workers directly involved. But we do affirm that these losses are not at all something that must necessarily occur each time efficiency is improved, as well as that the mere possibility of deviations in no way implies that that objective must be resigned. Condemning productivity just because there are those who commit iniquities in its name would be tantamount to censuring values such as freedom or justice just because there are flaws in their pursuit. What can be done in all cases is not to give up the goals but to redouble efforts to avoid such deviations.
Increasing efficiency is key to being able to increase the goods and services available in a sustained way and, consequently, the standards of living. That a country desists from raising its productivity is almost synonymous with renouncing any permanent improvement in the material well-being of its population.
Juan Domingo Peron – which surely will not be accused of “anti-worker” – in 1954 he stated: “Once the economy is organized and the action planned, we will be able to improve the state of our companies and the standard of living of our people only by producing more. By producing more we will lower costs and prices, and the purchasing power of each one will increase. (…) If we produce more, there will be no problem here, and the Argentine economy and finances will be assured in the most imperturbable way. If we do not produce more, it is useless that we have ambitions to earn more and to be better. That is an iron dilemma in the one that our economy is locked in! “.
The justicialista leader went even further and also argued that productivity is “The pole star that should guide us in all economic conceptions and in all economic solutions as well.”
Possibly we could find Perón’s words not so favorable to the position we hold here, and we must admit that throughout history on more than one occasion the justicialist administrations adopted measures that contributed little to the achievement of improvements in production. But let us remain with that, after the strong expansionism of the first years of his presidency, when the possibilities of growth based on demand were already exhausted, the “First worker” was able to reformulate its economic policy –at least from the discursive– and place investments and efficiency in a prominent place, as reflected in the previous quotes. All of this could serve as an invitation for those who, almost as a reflex action, reject the concept of efficiency, at least consider reflecting on their position.
Productivity is not – or at least it should not be – an exclusive flag of a political sector, but, on the contrary, it should constitute a common objective, especially relevant in the current hour, where the need for economic progress is an urgency of the first order.
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Businessmen and workers, government and civil society, government and opposition, should embark on this shared task. This does not imply ignoring that the search for progress in the matter eventually generates conflicts of interest, or that there are nuances in the order of priority that each one assigns with respect to other objectives. But it does affirm that it must occupy a prominent and permanent place within the goals of Argentine society, regardless of who circumstantially occupies the highest governmental positions.
The Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Krugman ever said that “Productivity is not everything, but in the long run it is almost everything”. Adhering to his words, it remains to advocate that efforts to improve productivity involve all of us, or, at least, almost all of us.
Economist, Researcher at the Productivity and Competitiveness Observatory, CAECE University.
Source From: Ambito
