At the ASI.
This idea of planning developing economies, You know, infant industry protection etc. Something of a problem when even the basic GDP statistics needed to do such planning are out by 50% or more.
Timmy elsewhere
November 24th, 2012 · 1 Comment
Tags: Timmy Elsewhere
1 response so far ↓
1 Ken // Nov 24, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Tim, you’re making a mistake. The fact that we cannot collect reliable statistics on say agriculture, does not invalidate the concept of infant industry protection per se. The benefits of infant industry protection (and Krugman’s strategic trade offshoot) and pitfalls are really not dependent the counting thing, they are more about identifying industries and potential growth opportunities.
I dont believe in it – mainly because the politics of it almost always go so wrong, and I agree that bureaucrats are particularly adept at identifying the wrong industries or the wrong policies. This isnt because they cannot count (although might contribute), but because it is either politically motivated or badly thought through.
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