Newsletter: Industrial Policy, But How? Dani Rodrik and Mariana Mazzucato at the Berlin Summit at the End of May

Dear friends and colleagues, 

In the heyday of market liberalism, it was believed that the state could never know better what was economically right – and how industries should develop. Hardly anything was more frowned upon than industrial policy. That was that. Until it became clear that the markets don’t always know better: whether in the case of shocks caused by globalization (China shock) or new technologies, some of which had devastating consequences (Rust Belt); or when it comes to helping electromobility achieve a breakthrough; or when free market activity creates too much strategic dependency, as became apparent in the corona crisis (medicines or masks from China and chips from Taiwan) or in the war in Ukraine (oil and gas from Russia).

For years, thought leaders such as Dani Rodrik and Mariana Mazzucato have been developing a new version of industrial policy. There are also a number of practical examples of a new industrial policy. In the USA, President Joe Biden has launched the CHIPS semiconductor subsidy law and the Inflation Reduction Act. There are similar examples from Brussels. And in Germany, the state is also trying to attract strategically important production facilities, such as those for chips, through subsidies.

But how do you get modern industrial policy right? When exactly and how should the state set the direction? Dani Rodrik and Mariana Mazzucato will discuss this in an exclusive panel at the Berlin Summit of the Forum New Economy on May 28, together with leading researchers such as Jens Südekum, Ufuk Akcigit and Dalia Marin. Saarland Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker and State Secretary for Economic Affairs Franziska Brantner will also talk about industrial policy in action. We will then document the core theses in text and video.

Who else will be there? And what will Adam Tooze say when he speaks during the public part of the Berlin Summit on May 29? The current state of plans can now be found on the event page for the summit in Nauen on the outskirts of Berlin, as well as all information on the opening event with Joe Kaeser, Harold James, Branko Milanovic, Christine Herntier and Lisa Paus on May 27 in Berlin-Mitte.

Places are limited, registrations are still open: here.

Have a nice weekend,

Thomas Fricke

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