La política industrial en otros países - Cátedra Política Industrial UPM

INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Observation of industrial policy in other economically important countries shows two distinct groups:

Asian countries

Asian countries with a long and successful tradition of industrial policy such as Japan, South Korea and China.

Western countries

Large Western countries with industrial policies implemented with varying degrees of intensity.

The first group of countries has started from a central assumption, which is to disregard Western economic theories of a liberal nature, which for decades have been against government intervention in the composition and development of their respective industrial bases. On the contrary, their fundamental economic thesis has been that for the development of their countries it was necessary to boost the industrial sector through the leadership in some cases, and intervention in others, of their respective governments.

The second group of countries has been heavily influenced by the liberal theories that have been in vogue in the West since the 1980s and, in particular, by the economic theories promoted by the so-called Washington Consensus. These theories have also had a considerable influence on many developing countries through multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with results that cannot be considered satisfactory.

The consequence of the decades-long application of these two economic models has been a very significant loss of the industrial and technological fabric of the West to Asian countries.

But as discussed in the tab "Industrial policy in Spain: past and future", the economic success of certain Asian countries and the realisation of the economic, technological and even security weaknesses in certain basic supplies of Western countries has led these countries to react to this situation.

In the last 10 years, countries with a long and deep liberal tradition such as the US and the UK have changed their economic strategy and are increasingly applying industrial policies aimed at guaranteeing the supply of numerous products considered essential for their economic prosperity, through a strategy of reindustrialisation. It should be noted that the US is a special case within the group of Western countries, since for reasons of national security it has historically maintained a policy of promoting its own industry in the defence sector.

The European Commission, after recommending in the past to its member states a liberal policy by opposing (1) state aid aimed at promoting European industry other than R&D, (2) certain industrial concentrations, and (3) the establishment of barriers to the entry of certain countries and foreign companies in the capital of European companies considered strategic, has changed its position significantly. In recent years, it has been much more open towards more favourable positions on these three initiatives, which are clearly in favour of promoting industrial policy. It has even been recommending to the member states, , that they make efforts to bring their combined manufacturing GVA up to 20%. By way of comparison, Spain has remained at around 12.5% in recent years.

Countries such as Germany and France have adopted and are deploying in recent years numerous industrial policy instruments with two clear objectives: (1) to relaunch their respective manufacturing industries and (2) to reduce dependence on third countries in a number of products that can be considered key from the point of view of national security or technological independence.

Below is a series of tables with the main industrial policy Actors and Instruments for seven countries considered relevant for their economic importance: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan, South Korea and China. Two aspects can be seen in these tables: on the one hand, a large part of the Actors and Instruments are common to several countries and, on the other hand, the clear orientation and intensity of Asian countries towards industry.

The permanent updating and deepening of the actors and instruments of other countries will be part of the work agenda of this Chair, in order to serve as a tool for comparison with the actors and instruments of Spain.

In the tab "Manufacturing in figures" you can see some economic indicators of these countries such as GDP per capita, manufacturing gross value added or the export and import of goods, the vast majority of which are manufactured industrial products.

INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Asian countries

Western countries

SUMMARY OF ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS IN GERMANY

SUMMARY OF ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS IN FRANCE

SUMMARY OF UNITED KINGDOM ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS

SUMMARY OF UNITED STATES ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS

SUMMARY OF ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS IN JAPAN

SUMMARY OF ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS IN SOUTH KOREA

SUMMARY OF ACTORS AND INSTRUMENTS IN CHINA