Critics of industrial policy claim that state interventions into the market lead to inefficient subsidies, protectionism, or the “picking of winners.” Kartik Akileswaran and Rohan Sandhu argue that when industrial policy is instead viewed as an iterative, dynamic process between the private and public sectors, and undergirded by the state's capacity to play this role, it leads to a more sophisticated understanding of industrial policy’s manifold historical manifestations and benefits.
While governments have forged ahead with various industrial policies in areas such as clean energy and semiconductors, we still have much to learn about the historical efficacy of such interventions. Réka Juhász and Claudia Steinwender evaluate the growing literature on nineteenth century industrial policy and possible paths for future research.