Deixem as empresas morrer!

Há dias no parte I da série "Gabiche?" escrevi:

"Como é que o anónimo da província responde à pergunta sobre como se aumenta a produtividade?
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Deixem as empresas morrer!"

Como não recordar este título de um postal de 2009: "Deixem as empresas morrer, se querem criar a economia do futuro, deixem de apoiar as empresas do passado"

Entretanto, comecei a ler um documento que o Rui Moreira me enviou. Nele encontro "Zombie Companies in Portugal - The non tradable sectors of Construction and Services" de Gabriel Osório de Barros, Filipe Bento Caires e Dora Xarepe Pereira.

"The present study shows that between 2008 and 2015, in the Portuguese non-tradable sectors of Construction and Services, between 5.2% (2008) and 12.5% (2013) of companies in the market were zombies.
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We also confirm the theoretical predictions and previous empirical results that a greater zombie presence in Construction and Services has significant negative implications on healthy companies operating in the same sector, namely reducing investment and employment and increasing the productivity gap between companies more and less productive in each sector.
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define zombie companies, characterizing them as companies with more than a decade of existence that do not generate sufficient revenues in their regular activity, persistently dependent on bank credit and that usually pay high wages considering the productivity of the sectors in which they operate. The productivity of these companies is much lower, contributing to decrease productivity in the different sectors where they are installed. This performance causes congestion and inefficiency in the market, among other factors, because'',

• Encourages inefficient companies to remain in the market, since easy access to bank credit gives them the possibility to continue their activity; 

• Attracting financial resources through the banking system reduces available credit and makes it impossible for viable companies to stay and progress; and 

• Prevent the entry of new companies, willing to innovate and to be more productive."

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These results indicate not only that the presence of zombies in these sectors of the Portuguese economy may have amplified the negative consequences of the crisis but also that they may be slowing the recovery of the economy, distorting the capture and application of resources by healthy companies. Taking into account all the companies studied, the implications for product growth and job creation (not destruction) are especially relevant at the aggregate level.
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This result highlights two important issues. On one hand, the prevalence and persistence of zombie companies that, in normal conditions, would terminate activity causes a reduction in the level of productivity of the sectors and consequently in the economy, undermining their growth. On the other hand, new companies wanting to enter the market need to achieve higher levels of productivity to compensate for the reduction in market profitability caused by zombie congestion and to be able to compete with the most productive companies in their sector. This process perpetuates the productivity gap between zombies and non-zombies, while the former continue to be able to survive."