Market failure and technological policy

This article highlights the need to complement macroeconomic policies designed to secure stabilization, deregulation and greater openness with other macroeconomic and microeconomic measures aimed at revitalizing the growth and competitiveness of the countries of the region. At the national level, in terms of macroeconomic measures, it is necessary to increase domestic saving and channel it towards productive investments within the local context, while microeconomic policy should include measures to develop and consolidate in the countries an innovative, wide-ranging system for furthering changes in the production patterns of the economy and promoting the transition to new technologies and forms of participation in international markets. It would also be advisable to improve management capacity, the generation and dissemination of technical knowledge, and the quality of human resources, while also encouraging a spirit of enterprise after years of macroeconomic instability and pursuit of short-term speculative rents which are generally incompatible with efforts at innovation and technological progress. At the supranational level, integration programmes like MERCOSUR or NAFTA demand a new institutional framework favouring the coordination and harmonization of public policies, including those designed to promote the training of highly-skilled human resources and technological innovation. Moreover, legislation on industrial property, quality codes and standards, standards of certification, etc., must now be reviewed in the light of the new context of industrial organization which is emerging.