TEXT
Economic benefits of the pandemic innovations (or the lack thereof).
Summary of an article by The Economist (See Source below)
According the The Economist, a magazine, the digitization and new ways of working developed during the pandemic has not resulted in the increase in productivity that was expected.
We have gone through many trials and tribulations during the plague years, but there was a silver lining. The pandemic has unleashed a treasure trove of innovations, such as the rapid development of vaccines, the technologies to facilitate working from home, those plus the governments’ promised largesse in science spending and the promises of juicy R&D plans by companies; it was expected that the world would move out of its low productivity slumber.
That did not happen.
In the 2010’s American labor productivity slowed down, societies became less adept at finding new ideas and promulgating innovations.
It was thought that the pandemic innovations would change that, but economic data are showing the contrary.
American and British productivities, as measured by the ratio of GDP over number of people on payrolls, have decreased. Both economies are thus producing less with more people working.
Researchers believe that today’s weak productivity growth is the flip side of strong growth in 2020. Back then American firms fired their least valuable workers, boosting productivity. Now they are rehiring them, dragging it back down.
Why has the promised productivity boom failed to materialize? The optimists say that improvements in productivities always lag behind investments. Yet there are three reasons to worry that the pandemic innovation boom might never arrive.
First firms are not necessarily investing on things that lift productivity, for example the scramble in spending to protect the supply chains; it improves resilience but by creating redundancy it also increases costs. That has zero impact on productivity.
The Economist’s back-of-the-envelope calculation for 31 countries suggests that overall rich-world spending on “intellectual-property products” is running below its pre-pandemic trend. There is little evidence of a boom in new discoveries and use of frontier technology.
Second: People working from home are not more efficient, as predicted.
Third: The pandemic has introduced inefficiencies—Measures required to limit the spread of the virus do little to raise profitability, and more time is lost to sick leaves,
Researchers find “no room for a pandemic-era revival in productivity growth as has been widely suggested”. A large body of peer-reviewed evidence before the pandemic established that innovation had drastically slowed—and explained the structural reasons why that was so.
SOURCES
The Economist – The missing pandemic innovation boom
IDIOMS & EXPRESSIONS
The lack thereof
Meaning: The thing mentioned in the prior sentence is lacking.
Examples:
1.Money, or the lack thereof, is often the source of discord
2.We needed help, but the lack thereof means we’re going to have to do this by ourselves.
3.The company’s environmental policies, or lack thereof, explains why it did not get the permit to build the plant.
Trial and tribulations
Meaning: Various difficulties, hardships, or problems, especially those that test one’s courage, endurance, or resolve.
Examples:
- The many trials and tribulations of becoming a doctor both serve to educate future medical practitioners as well as weed out those who aren’t willing to dedicate the necessary time and effort.
- My grandfather’s life was full of trials and tribulations. He has known war, poverty, starvation, imprisonment, torture.
- After the war, Vietnam has gone through many trials and tribulations because of the American economic blockade.
Treasure trove:
Meaning: A collection of valuable things
Examples:
- Michael’s vast knowledge of history makes him a treasure trove of the department.
- While cleaning out her house, Amanda found a treasure trove of childhood pictures.
- Classic books, old-time radio theater, historical radio and television broadcasts and more make My Audio School a treasure trove for educators, parents and students alike.
Meaning: Generosity, willingness to give money.
Example:
- Chinese enterprises are sometimes the beneficiaries of largesse from Beijing, such as low-interest loans that may never need to be repaid in full.
- Thanks to the billionaire’s largesse, twenty underprivileged graduates now have college scholarships.
- Some of the politicians who spoke loudly against corruption have also been known to accept the largesse of foreign benefactors
Meaning: Sleep.
Examples:
- They were awoken from their slumber by a knock at the door.
- A slumber party is overnight party especially of teenage girls; everyone stays to sleep at one of the girls’ homes
Back-of-the-envelope calculation:
Meaning: Calculation done quickly to provide a rough estimate.
Examples:
- He wants to build a house and likes to know how much it will cost approximately, so I did a quick back- of- the- envelope calculation and gave him a rough number.
- We are extremely worried about that proposal, which was no doubt drawn up on the back of an envelope.
Peer review (noun), peer-review (verb):
Meaning: A technical paper submitted for publication are normally reviewed by experts in the same field before it is published to make sure the research supporting it is rigorous.
Examples:
- A large body of peer-reviewed evidence before the pandemic established that innovation had drastically slowed.
- This paper has been published without peer review; it contains grossly erroneous analyzes and incomplete data.
- The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) employs a highly rigorous peer-review process to evaluate manuscripts for scientific accuracy, novelty, and importance. The peer-review process often works to improve research while preventing overstatements of results from reaching physicians and the public.
Meaning: an advantage that comes from a difficult or unpleasant situation
Examples:
- I’m looking for a silver lining in this report, and I’m not finding it.
- If there’s a silver lining to the news that foodborne illness is on the rise, it’s that greater consumer awareness can help improve the safety of our food supply in the long run.
- As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. If we hadn’t missed the plane, we would never have met you.
SPEAKING PRACTICE
Make sentences using each of the following words (or their variations) and expressions:
Innovation, the lack thereof, trials and tribulations, plague, silver lining, unleash, trove, facilitate, largesse, slumber, promulgate, payrolls, flip side, scramble, supply chains, resilience, redundancy, back-of-the-envelope calculation, frontier, peer-reviewed, structural reasons
