A monster from the past

The global turn to industrial policy defies history and logic

Over the past few years, a monster long thought vanquished has once again reared its ugly head: Industrial policy. The notion that a government can play favourites across the various sectors of the economy has never of course gone completely out of style. What matters is the scale of this intervention, its purpose, and its chosen instruments. On each of these, there has been a reversion to past levels, which is deeply disturbing for anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of economic history. It is particularly troubling when industrial policy spills over into trade policy and causes the erection of