52 pages • 1 hour read
Ha-Joon ChangA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Free-market economists are typically skeptical of the government’s ability to pick winners and losers through industrial policy since the government is not bound by market forces. Instead, they suggest, it’s best to let the market work itself out.
Chang asserts that governments are sometimes in the perfect position to promote winning industries. For example, in the 1960s, Korea was a poor country with lots of labor but little capital. Despite this, and against the advice of the World Bank, the Korean government set up a steel production company as a state-owned enterprise. Over the next few decades, this company became one of the world’s largest and most efficient steel production facilities. During the same period, the Korean government pressured certain private firms to enter particular industries, with some notable successes, including LG’s entry into electronics and Hyundai’s shipbuilding business.
While acknowledging some failures of government-sponsored enterprise, such as France and Great Britain’s Concorde project, Chang points out that governments have helped pick winners in countries throughout the world. In the US, for instance, the government has heavily subsidized research and development in high-tech industries. The governments that tend to be most successful at picking winners have the best communication with businesses, allowing for effective joint efforts.
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Business & Economics
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Globalization
View Collection
Immigrants & Refugees
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Nation & Nationalism
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Poverty & Homelessness
View Collection
Sociology
View Collection