Learning from Past Battles in Argentina? The Role of REPRO in the Prevention of Crisis-induced Lay-offs
The wave of policies applied worldwide in reaction to the Great Recession is now mainly aimed at minimising job losses. Sharing the goal, however, does not necessarily mean sharing the means. Different countries, both from the north and the south, have adopted various kinds of measures – as well as different combination of measures – ranging from trade protectionism by means of nontariff barriers and exchange-rate management, to bail out specific operations and, in some cases, systematic bail out policies. In this paper we propose to analyse how Argentina stepped up the use of a job protection programme to resist the job losses stemming from the acute slowdown in the wake of the Great Recession. REPRO (Spanish acronym for Programa de Recuperacion Productiva – Programme for the Recovery of Production) was an emergency programme created in the aftermath of the 2002 meltdown in Argentina. Having described this programme, GTA Analytical Paper No.7 will analyse the REPRO programme, its stated goals, the eligibility conditions as well as the sunset clauses. Special emphasis will be placed on the extent up to which the philosophy of the programme is related to factors which make it difficult for firms to adjust (small size, reduced produce diversification, disconnection to global value chains). Next, the paper will examine which sectors and firms received support, revealing something about the nature of discrimination. Estimates of the costs per job saved will be presented.
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