Countries and economies are not only plagued by spectacular collapses, but also by permanent and costly delays, for which no one has a political incentive to declare a failure. Trains in Romania travel, on average, at 45 kilometers per hour, slightly faster than a good cyclist and slower than a few years ago. The National Institute of Statistics does not publish a “cost of delays,” nor does the Ministry of Transport keep a record of lost travel hours. Yet the cost exists and is as real as any number in GDP, just not added up. This is, in fact, the fundamental limit of national accounting: it is built to count what is produced, not what passes by. Rising GDP can perfectly hide an economy operating at half capacity, as service disruptions do not appear as a separate line. They are absorbed, unspoken, in a productivity decline, in investments that are no longer made, in work hours turned into waiting hours. Four cases of waiting that are not visible.

Sursă consultată: Criza curentului în România și economia lucrurilor care nu funcționează - HotNews.ro — https://hotnews.ro/economia-lucrurilor-care-nu-functioneaza-2314017