Sandwichman — Dean Baker is Clueless On Productivity Growth
There are two HUGE problem with Dean's story. First, aggregate productivity growth is a "statistical flimflam," according to Harry Magdoff, who pioneered productivity measurement in the 1930s....
Fred Block and Gene Burns took up the critique of productivity statistics six years later in "Productivity as a Social Problem: The Uses and Misuses of Social Indicators." Their analysis specifically addressed the second problem with Dean's story, his contention that productivity growth is totally benign...
Leaving aside the benefits and risks of technological advances themselves, Block and Burns chronicled how the concept of productivity growth -- and its faux measurement -- has been used as a political weapon against workers, unions and collective bargaining....
In short, flimflam productivity measures were used by the enemies of workers to justify enacting a set of policies that ensured that workers wouldn't share in the gains of technological advance.
2 comments:
Let's just give people vouchers to go get their healthcare in Europe. And then import a bunch of low wage doctors and lawyers to reduce American professional's wages. But here it gets really confusing. Do we give the health care vouchers to the imported professionals too? Just imagine the productivity gains we'd realize after we've had our wages cut down. If austerity increases confidence so much that economic activity explodes, then working people harder while cutting their wages should inspire them to such an enormous degree, that their productivity goes through the roof! Especially, since they know they have a European vacation coming up to do that back surgery. A 10 hour plane ride definitely helps heal a freshly operated-on back.javascript:void(0)
The details may be the silliness of economics, but the main thrust -- that workers can put in fewer hours in light of advances in technology -- is certainly true.
Post a Comment