Industrial Policy Beyond the Crisis

After years of official disrepute, industrial policy (IP) is back in vogue at regional, national and international levels driven by concerns over competitiveness, globalisation, de-industrialisation, unemployment and the comparatively slow growth of the EU economy especially in this post-recession phase. At the same time, IP has been seen as a catalyst for designing economic recovery strategies at regional, national and international levels, as well as being a concerted strategy to develop new ‘clean-tech’ industries to tackle environmental challenges.

If anything, the recent global recession and credit crunch have highlighted the fragility of some states’ and localities’ economic development paths and the unbalanced nature of their economies, in terms of an over-reliance on sectors such as retail, financial services, and construction, to the detriment of manufacturing. This also suggests an accompanying need for greater economic diversity so as to avoid over-dependencies on certain sectors, and a better balance of ownerships forms.

But what should be the shape of IP in the wake of the crisis and how can IP rebalance economies, help support sustainable development and catalyse new technologies and innovations whilst learning lessons from past experience and debate? This edited volume examines these questions through a wide range of diverse contributions from expert international authors.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Policy Studies.

David Bailey is Professor of International Business and Economic Development at Coventry University Business School, UK, and Chair of the Regional Studies Association. He has published extensively on industrial policy, economic restructuring and policy responses, globalisation, policy towards transnationals and FDI, and EU Regional Policy.

Helena Lenihan is the Assistant Dean of Research and Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland. She has published extensively on industrial, enterprise and innovation policy evaluation, industrial and enterprise policy development, innovation policy, and the role of SMEs/entrepreneurship in economic development and firm growth.

Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod is Associate Professor in Economics at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain. He has published extensively on industrial location, firm demography and urban and regional economics.