NZIIA event in Auckland New Zealand on 17 December 2024.

Industrial policy, including import substitution, has long been criticised by economists for excessive protectionism, which often led to inefficient and uncompetitive firms and stifled export growth. But pressures for protectionism in wealthy countries are growing, and developed countries themselves are now aggressively pursuing industrial policy as part of new economic statecraft. Will this new tilt to industrial policy work? By focusing on key international drivers and constraints, domestic state-society relations, and elite ideological commitments, this talk evaluates the prospects for the successful pursuit of industrial policy, and what it might mean for New Zealand and global trade.

Biography:

Vinod K. Aggarwal is Distinguished Professor and Alann P. Bedford Endowed Chair, Department of Political Science; Affiliated Professor, Haas School of Business; Director of the Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center (BASC); and Fellow in the Public Law and Policy Center, Berkeley Law School, all at the University of California, Berkeley. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Business and Politics, and has published 23 books and over 140 articles and book chapters. His latest book is Great Power Competition and Middle Power Strategies (2023) and his book The Oxford Handbook of Geoeconomics and Economic Statecraft is in press. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

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