Thursday, August 30, 2007

Labor Productivity


Imagine what would happen to the US figures if we banned;

American Idol
Paris Hilton
Hip Hop
People Magazine
and
Reality TV

10 comments:

Andrew L said...

Or if Americans were knee deep in oil the way the Norwegians are. Or if the American government made it so difficult to hire workers that those who did get tired have to work unnaturally hard, the way France does.

But really, when you consider how vast and diverse America is, and the fact that it has no particular natural advantages (the way Norway does) nor any legislation forcing laborers to work unusually long and hard (the way France does), it's pretty impressive that the USA is in the top five.

Maybe you guys are on to something with your inane pop icons and frivolous television shows.

Alfred T. Mahan said...

*Cameron voice* I'll give you two more reasons; MTV and daytime talk shows. */voice*

Possibly two of the greatest time-sucks (is that a word?) I've ever encountered in dealing with The Younger Set and The Older Set.

Ryan said...

Ban? Execute all those involved so that such things will never happen again.

Disposable Info said...

I'm not sure about everyone else here, but the existence of Paris Hilton and bad Hip Hop is a great incentive for me to be *more* productive, if only to avoid ending up in a world where the only sex I can get is with hookers, and the only music I could appreciate would not actually be music.

On the other hand, People Magazine seems to inspire me to want to be an aspiring, talentless actor with misguided views of how to save the world (i.e. bad economics). ...Which doesn't serve my work ethic very well...

Anonymous said...

This country could stand to lose all of those that do not contribute, which I'm guessing is about 60%. Think of what we could do with all that tax money back in our pockets rather than it being wasted on those loads!!

Anonymous said...

You might find 1 Luxembourg $ 71,400 2006 est.
2 Bermuda $ 69,900 2004 est.
3 Jersey $ 57,000 2005 est.
4 Equatorial Guinea $ 50,200 2005 est.
5 United Arab Emirates $ 49,700 2006 est.
6 Norway $ 46,300 2006 est.
7 Guernsey

All these countries have higher labor productivity than most the world. But do you truely believe so? A waiter working in Bermuda is by no mean really more productive than a waiter working in USA. Now you know. It is high price making the difference. There are always exploitating and exploited. So high GPD is combination of productivity and exploiting other countries below them.

Anonymous said...

So, you need to look at this graph with further information:

1) Norway has government instituted monopolies that falsely increase the price of goods. Also, tax revenue as it relates to GDP is 45%. Norway levies a hefty import tax to discourage foreign competition and large government ownership of business.
1.5) Also take into account that Norway as a GDP the size of Minnesota's.
2) Belgium's government spending is 54% of GDP, and the average tax burden for a family with two children is 48.6% of your salary; the highest in the EU.
3) Now, the Netherlands, from what I understand, they claim some of the headquarters of the largest companies in the world. Because of their advantageous treatment of corporate taxes (But burdensome personal tax rates), could this not translate into an overly skewed piece of data?
4) France; I think you've detailed the issues with France very well in the past.

A reason you might want to float as well to why the US is 5th is the failure of the country to educate its children. That more and more money is spent on public education, with not even diminishing returns, rather a reversal in returns. To quote a quote from Neal Boortz: Competition. It frightens government employees of all stripes; especially teachers. Never forget that Florida government school teacher who said that "competition is not good for people."

Check out http://workforall.net/EN_Tax_policy_for_growth_and_jobs.html for more information regarding the tax/employment issues in Europe. You'll love it; they've got the coolest graphs.

--Pete

Anonymous said...

If we got rid of those things, productivity per hour worked would go down. Those things don't really attract the best and the brightest, and anything that keeps the marginal worker from working will increase labor productivity per hour.

Anonymous said...

Ah to report something only to have the report change days later.

New UN report states the US is now the top producer per capita.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008415826

Original Document is here:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/strat/kilm/

Anonymous said...

There's actually no contradiction there. Americans are the most productive per worker, and Norway has the most productivity per hour worked. Americans work more hours, so per hour productivity will be lower, other things being equal, since productivity per hour decreases on the margin.