Industrial Policy Is a Nostalgic Pipe Dream
Industrial Policy Is a Nostalgic Pipe Dream Jun 25, 2024 JAMES K. GALBRAITH To address the public’s anger after four decades of neoliberalism, progressive and center-left economists are calling for innovation to create wealth “for the many” and to deal with climate change, while also reducing market concentration and power. Unfortunately, they are mistaken about where the real problem lies. SIRACUSA, ITALY – At a recent “summit” in Berlin, prominent center-left economists announced a “new consensus” on industrial policy. Their joint declaration was then published in full by the Columbia University economic historian Adam Tooze, who described it as “remarkable both for its capacious agreement on economic and industrial policy principles and the way they are embedded in a reading of the political and geopolitical risks of the moment.” According to the Berlin declaration, those risks are of two types. There are “real risks” such as climate change, “unbearable inequalities,” and “major g