SHORT REPORT about: PRODUCTIVITY and PROPERTY RIGHTS Alice Quassinti

Productivity… We can define productivity as … … the ammount of goods and service produced for each hour of a worker’s time. It is esteemed so relevant because it determines nation’s standard of living.

Productivity is determined by many factors: I.Physical Capital; II.Human Capital; III.Natural Resources; IV.Technological Knowledge;

I) The Physical Capital is the stock of equipment and structures that are used to produce goods and service. An important feature of “capital” is that it is a produced factor of production. II) The Human Capital is made up of knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training and experience. We can identify 2 essential ways by which workers can learn “human capital”: School; Experience on-the-job. III) The Natural Resources are inputs into production that are provided by nature, such as land, river, and mineral deposits. They can be: Renewable ; Nonrenewable. IV) The Technological Knowledge is the society’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and service. The T.K. Takes many forms: Common Knowledge; Propietary Thecnology.

The Factors of Production of a Medicine… I) Physical Capital: laboratories, medical equipment, pharmaceutical establishment. II) Human Capital: Knowledge and skills owned by scientist, doctors, medical scholar III)Natural Resources: the natural and chemical substances of which the medicine are made up( active principle, exipients…) IV) Technological Knowledge: new medical discoveries.

Until now… …we have spoke about the factors which influenced nation’s productivity and as consiquence allow the rise of the living standard. But … Which role plays the government in the productive process? What can government policy do to raise productivity and living standard?

The government can… Made a policy based on savings and investments; Promote investment from abroad; Invest in education, training, research and development; Promote free trade; Made a control of population growth; Promote political stability Introduce Property Rights.

Property Rights… …. refer to the ability of people to exercise authority over the resources they own. We know that production in market economies arises from the interactions of millions of individuals and firms; this division of production among many firms allows the economy’s factors of production to be used as effectively as possible…

The economy, to obtain this issue,has to coordinate the transactions among these firms… … An economy-wide respect for property rights is an important prerequisite for the top shape of coordination.

The role of property rights in developing countries… “ For over a billion poor people in the developing world, changing their relationship to the land they live upon could measurably improve their quality of life. Granting access to land and legalizing rights to the land could lead to an increase in income, improve social security, and enhance opportunity” The property rights play a central role in the increasing economic growth of the developing countries. The majority of the poor live in rural areas where land is the key asset: a source of food security, income, credit, status, and power. Without fair distribution of land and secure rights, millions of poor people suffer, and the economies of developing countries lose the opportunity to realize billions of dollars in assets for growth and investment. Creating a unified system that enables access to land and land rights is an essential component of fighting poverty.

The economist’s Hernando De Soto point of view… He claims that formal land rights could unlock potential for the poor and their country. In his view,the process by which developing countries can trasform themselves and their economies consists in the creation of a system that legally represents people and their property.