Presentation Ceremony

On Friday, June 14, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., the book Canarias, misión productividad was presented at the Real Casino de Tenerife, by its authors, Antonio Olivera and David Padrón.

 

Interview with the authors video

In the 13th minute, talking about productivity indicators focused on business, mentioning the Canary Islands Business Productivity Reports, carried out by REGENERING with the Canary Islands Chambers of Commerce in 2007, and with Economic Promotion of the Government of the Canary Islands in 2014.

 

Book “Canarias, misión productividad”

“The Canary Islands, Productivity Mission” is a holistic but accessible approach to what the authors understand to be the main problem of the Canarian economy: its low productivity.

Throughout its eight chapters, not only the explanatory causes of the factors that explain our low productivity are analyzed, but also an effort is made to model the functioning of our society, which is basic to understand how we can act on the current situation and improve.

Nor do we hide from proposing solutions or proposing a work programme that allows us to change our circumstances and protect better prospects for the future.

From the perspective of the explanatory factors of our low productivity, we have to emphasize the shortcomings detected in investment in assets and, particularly, intangible or intangible assets. But also in the low qualification of human capital, insufficient investment in technology and innovation, the improvable business management practices or the imperfections of regulatory frameworks, sometimes inadequate to generate the right incentives to efficiently allocate productive resources.

All these aspects are considered “proximate” factors of productivity growth and are in turn connected and explained by the “fundamental” factors, which include institutions and the cultural traits of society. These are strategic elements to understand the keys to the policies that must be promoted to generate truly successful changes, something that we have not achieved in the Canary Islands in the last 30 years.
But we do not only want to emphasize the productive features of our society, understanding the current reality consists of integrating economic aspects with social and environmental aspects, which are increasingly relevant in the concerns of citizens, based on the consideration that the economy in itself cannot be an objective or an end. but a means to improve people’s quality of life.

Explaining reality is not only about establishing correlations and causalities between variables, understanding our world in order to try to change it, it should lead us to make an effort to understand its systemic functioning. How all the elements connect with each other and interrelate. We propose a simplified but complex system, which allows us to connect the facts and understand how to act to produce change.

Like any self-respecting analysis, we cannot stop at the analysis of past events and the lines of causality between them, we must propose changes, formulas to aspire to improve the lives of the people of the Canary Islands. The economic policy recipes proposed in this book are not happy ideas, they are mechanisms of action well rooted in the mechanics of the economic and social operators of our archipelago. It requires shared and common guidelines, which are complex to implement but which, if developed with determination, can lead us to lead a fuller life in the territory of our lives.

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