The Power of Productivity by William Lewis

The Australian Government participated in the reduction of trade barriers as part of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT). As a result there have been pressures on the above mentioned industries that were previously protected. They have effectively become, or are becoming, casualties of what is termed ‘a race to the bottom’ between national governments as they attempt to attract investment by undercutting competition.[vi] The industries without protection are inefficient and thus profit is affected forcing firms to shift elsewhere or outsource in search of improving efficiencies.

Economists use the term “potential output” or “potential gross domestic product (GDP)” to describe the economy’s maximum sustainable level of economic activity as determined by growth in the potential labor force and growth in labor productivity. The potential labor force, in turn, grows through native population growth and immigration, while labor productivity grows through business investment in tangible capital (machines, factories, offices, and stores) as well as investments in R&D and other intangible capital. Improvements in labor quality through education and training can also boost productivity, as can improvements in managerial efficiency or technology that allow businesses to produce more with the same amount of labor and capital.

Imperialism as a driving force behind the structures of capitalism and consumerism has stood as an extremely powerful tool taken on by many influential economic world powers. The occidentalist concept of importing goods for consumption from less developed peripheral nations, in recent history, has become a concept with heavy influence. This idea of creating a production dichotomy has become foundational to the modern and increasingly connected world and its means of efficient production by trade; unfortunately, this often results in imperialistic oppression to exacerbate this neoliberal concept’s effects of efficiency and productivity. To have maximum possible efficiency output, workers in developing nations under capitalist forces are

Productivity and economic growth matters a lot. Without it, our children don’t get better lives. Inequality increases significantly as each person has to fight for their share of the wealth. Right now, the outlook appears bleak. But ultimately, it is impossible to predict the future. Who can see when or what the next huge innovation will be that will revitalize the economy. We can only hope that that innovation comes soon, and that our man will fall asleep and wake up once again to a new, better

On one hand, it can be argued that by partaking within these mass production trade systems, one nation can develop economically by providing mass produced products at low prices due to cheap labor and material costs. Here is where things seem to become clouded, the free trade agreement between different countries. It is this agreement that allows different countries to import and export goods with the reduction and or elimination of tariffs. (Globalization Pt. II). However, this hinders all countries on a global scale, as the promotion and exploitation of these unjust working conditions are used to keep under developed countries from achieving a higher quality of

Imposing barriers is a policy passed by the government to discourage imports from the foreign countries. Since every government has a responsibility to safeguard the wellbeing of its people, it is very importation for government to quickly take care of situations where the country is not necessarily profiting from international trade and take required actions as quickly as possible. Restrictions on overseas companies are tend to protect country’s own interest. There are so many reasons why sovereign government impose barriers. Some reasons are as follows.

Counties could get benefit from globalization of economy through international trading. However, they also could suffer negative impacts of globalization. In modern society, the trades between countries are usual and frequent. According to Robert, through international trading, the US citizens could buy foreign products in lower prices. However, international trading is harmful for some domestic companies (2013). For instance, if US and China all produce cars. Once both country open its market to the world. China will lose its original competitive advantages because the U.S. auto companies made better cars. The cause of this result is the diversity of competitive advantages. For China, their competitive advantage is low labor costs but low technology. For the United States, they has high technology but high labor expenses. Also if some of countries join some custom unions. Those country who was not in that unions will definitely has disadvantage on international trading. Towards these types of problems, the US government made a lot of policies to protect US economy. For example, tariff is an import tax which used to protect domestic companies. The tariff raises price of import goods. It is only benefit to U.S. producers. On the other hand, world wild business competition enhance hardness for infant companies. The US government also gift

Trade is an engine of growth; it has many effects and benefits that can help to grow the economy on a global scale. The benefits of trade can be viewed in different perspectives depending on the view that is taken the benefits and the receivers change. Trade can be viewed from the perspective of the economic nationalist, which argues that protectionism is a need to help grow the states economy and power. While in another approach trade can be seen as positive sum game by the means of comparative advantage through the lens of liberalism. Lastly there are some that argue that specialization of goods is a way to increase productivity and economic growth. The focus of my paper will be to present these perspectives on and suggest

* The relationship between the amount of labor & capital employed and the law of diminishing marginal productivity

The world has changed over the last ten years, technology has created a new world, where we have become more dependent on it. In his article, “The Eight Net Gen Norms”, Don Tapscott, discusses what he believes the “net generation” is and how they are defined by eight norms: Freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed, and innovation. (132) Tapscott makes some very unique observations, but there was one norm, I felt was more important, innovation. There are many reasons why, but the one main reason is the creation of new ideas. Without the innovated ideas, we wouldn’t have the advanced technology we possess today. Think about the world without cell phones, no web, or no medical tools? We know for a fact this era couldn’t survive without them. The workplace is starting to turn from the traditional way by allowing the employees to be heard, but there is still a gap between generations. The power of innovation helps people with everyday life, changing the way jobs are running, but also has created a rift between the old and new generations.

The goals of higher efficiency, productivity and more competitiveness – a development apart from the pressure of the world market - have not been reached. The process of organisational, technical, and social development of the industries was slow and highly protected. During the 1950s the countries decided to open the market to foreign direct-investments restrictively, which, after a short period of time, ruled the more dynamical and technical sectors. The state controlled the raw materials sector, the national private sector got less and less opportunities to develop.

The country can maximize their wealth by putting the resources in the most competitive industries. Government created comparative advantage rather than free trade because now easier moves the production processes and the machines into countries that can produce more goods (Yeager & Tuereck, 1984). However, many countries now move to new trade theory suggests the ability firms to limit the number of competitors associated with economic scale (reduction of costs with a large scale of output) (Krugman, 1992). The comparative advantage occurs when two-way trade in identical products, it will useful where economic scale is important, but it will create problem with this model. As a result, government must intervene in international trade for protection to domestic firms (Krugman, 1990)

A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services, which in turn depends on its productivity. The productivity which is a function of the education of workers and the access workers have to the necessary tools and

In the face of intensified global competition and liberalised trade, productivity has emerged as a key indicator of successful restructuring and upgrading by firms and industries. Traditionally, productivity growth has been regarded as one of the main sources of income growth, along with the factors such as capital accumulation and the deepening of human capital development. Over the past two decades, liberalisation has become an important part of many countries' development strategies. The present study analyses the review of earlier studies on productivity

He pointed out that different economic levels have their own requirements and they may not follow the same process of industrialization. Moreover, he raised the most influential theory related to late industrialization that the economically backward states may have rapider growth rate as they are late comers, and the national development process relied on the degree of economic backwardness. That is to say the more backward a country, the faster it will advance (ibid).