Revival of Industrial Policy

Industrial policy is back in fashion after having been frowned upon for a long time. In their reports to the EU Parliament and the EU Commission, former Italian Prime Ministers Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi recommend a massive strengthening of industrial policy in Europe. The cornerstone of the new EU Commission's economic policy is the “Clean Industrial Deal”, which aims to combine the transformation of the economy with the “competitiveness” of industry. In Germany, the country with the highest industrial share of GDP in Europe, the extent and direction of industrial policy is also being debated.

The triggers for this revival are manifold. In addition to the weak productivity development in Europe, these include the transformation to climate neutrality as well as the new geopolitical tensions and the associated need for a more resilient economy in Europe.

In science, “industrial policy” is not a research field in its own right, but is dealt with from different areas. The keynote speeches at the annual conference will address aspects of current developments in research on industrial policy and outline where further research is needed.

Keynotes

Réka Juhász (University of British Columbia) is co-founder of “The Industrial Policy Group”, which deals with empirical questions of industrial policy with the aim of deriving “basic insights into global industrial policy practice”. Pol Antràs (Harvard University), a leading foreign trade expert, will address trade and security of supply in his talk. John Vickers (Oxford University) was Chairman of the former Office of Fair Trading and Chief Economist at the Bank of England. He will speak on the interplay between industrial and competition policy.

Monday 15 Sept. / 11:30 Keynote Pol Antràs

Trade and Industrial Policy

Moderation: Claudia Steinwender (LMU)

Tuesday 16 Sept. / 14:00 Keynote John Vickers

On the role of competition policy in industrial policy

Moderation: Monika Schnitzer (LMU)

Wednesday 17 Sept. / 12:15 Keynote Réka Juhász

The New Economics of Industrial Policy

This talk will discuss new insights in industrial policy research including
i) some ingredients for successful industrial policy, 
ii) how to confront the very real political economy challenges to industrial policy, and
iii) whether industrial policy can be consistent with a rules-based trading system.

Moderation: Harald Fadinger (Vienna University)

Panel of the Core Conference

Monday 15 Sept. / 13:45-14:45

European Industrial Policy

Based on the reports by Letta and Draghi, the EU commission has proposed significant industrial policy measures in order to boost innovation, to combine decarbonisation with competitiveness and to strengthen resilience. What are these measures, and will they work? Where is more research needed?

Moderation: Achim Wambach (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

• Irene Bertschek (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research / Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation)
• Otmar Edenhofer (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research / European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change)
• Kerstin Jorna (European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW))
• Moritz Schularick (Kiel Institute for the World Economy)