Krugman sobre la caída de salarios...

Ayer salió publicado un artículo de Paul Krugman en el New York Times y como era de esperarse, está muy bien argumentado y con ideas valiosas. En el artículo, Krugman muestra su preocupación sobre el peligro que representa la caída de salarios en los Estados Unidos, y hace una diferencia brillante cuando una empresa aislada negocia con los trabajadores una reducción de salario, y cuando dicha política es generalizada en toda la economía:

Here’s how the paradox works. Suppose that workers at the XYZ Corporation accept a pay cut. That lets XYZ management cut prices, making its products more competitive. Sales rise, and more workers can keep their jobs. So you might think that wage cuts raise employment — which they do at the level of the individual employer.

But if everyone takes a pay cut, nobody gains a competitive advantage. So there’s no benefit to the economy from lower wages. Meanwhile, the fall in wages can worsen the economy’s problems on other fronts.

In particular, falling wages, and hence falling incomes, worsen the problem of excessive debt: your monthly mortgage payments don’t go down with your paycheck. America came into this crisis with household debt as a percentage of income at its highest level since the 1930s. Families are trying to work that debt down by saving more than they have in a decade — but as wages fall, they’re chasing a moving target. And the rising burden of debt will put downward pressure on consumer spending, keeping the economy depressed.

Es importante que esta caída de salarios no se mantengan, porque si bien las medidas del gobierno han sido efectivas y han evitado el empeoramiento de la economía, el peligro ahora está en el estancamiento de la misma... Must Read

Fuente: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/opinion/04krugman.html?_r=1