ABSTRACT
Some argue that protection of workers impedes efficiency and growth. This
study shows that the ability of unions to interfere in government economic
reforms is not the price of a competitive political party system. It is an
economic benefit. Intractable and resistant social organizations help to
prevent governments from enacting policies in reckless or corrupt ways.
Thus, the privatization program in India has not only been more gradual
than that in Pakistan, it has also been more economically sound and
accompanied by far less corruption, as we saw in chapter three. The previous chapter established that in South Asia, workers are less
protected and employers are less responsible for their employees than they
were merely two decades ago. The long downward trends are clear even
with the limitations of available data. Today, employers and managers are
often disassociated from and ignorant of those who provide labor in their
enterprises, including public sector employers.
