Josh Hutcherson Bed In Blue Boxers

Industrial policy: a new direction?

In "Man and the market", I mentioned the four pillars of government - to understand, meet, create and distribute.

Several levers can allow the creation of additional wealth, but the industrial policies (in Anglo-Saxon sense, ie public policies to develop as many services as industry or agriculture) are the way most emphasized. The debate between those who generally believe it is better to do nothing - the record of past policies is at best neutral and limited resources of the state - and those who believe with all of voluntarism is possible - the questions of cost or performance is secondary.

It is true that the constraints of public finance, development of free trade agreements (setting limits to discriminate in favor of "national champions") or analysis of the balance of interventionist policies (Mixed, with successes such as Airbus, but also failures like Concorde, Minitel ,...) have led many analysts to see the end of industrial policies.

But forget other avenues of intervention, much less expensive and not necessarily less effective, such as:
- coordination of public policies and private strategies in highly regulated sectors. This is particularly true for healthcare industries, or "utilities (water, utilities ,...) for which an intelligent organization can be a source competitive advantage globally;
- international support for national interests, as is the case for Germany in the field of technical standards, promoting German quality products;
- innovation in the public sector, like the support of U.S. authorities to the development of RFID chips;
- the development of Japan-related industries aging, including robotics, for a concerted effort between government (in the role of strategist and coordinator of major projects) and industry

These tools can have considerable power, which can be used for good or for evil: lack of standards in the field of finance, initially thought to promote the development of an industry, is probably the mistake of industrial policy the most expensive ever. There are also examples in Europe, in the energy sector, governments have pushed standards inappropriate or excessive in order to promote its industry, but to detriment of consumers.

Thus this "new way" is no exception, as before, at the risk of abuse. Like its predecessors, their effectiveness depends primarily on intelligence, and taste for the general interest of those who use ...