Industrial policy

Why we don’t and probably can’t have one

James Galbraith starts with a high level review of the three Biden bills that take a stab in the direction of industrial policy. His tone is “damning with faint praise”: they probably have and will produce some positive results, but are not game-changers. And they do not amount to an industrial policy.

The second half of the post gives the real meat: why, as they say in Maine, you can’t get there from here. In this case, financiers, tech oligarchs, and arms makers hold sway, with the influence of academics, scientists, and unions greatly reduced. The current power players simply don’t care about the public at large having nice things, here a productive economy that generates shared prosperity.