In light of the Africa rising or not meme. An earlier post from Kariobangi on industrial policy:
Taiwan, year 1983. The plan of the government consisted of 3 simple steps:
- Identify an imported product that you want to produce locally.
- Use red tape to slowdown the import of that product
- Let local firms learn the technology, get good contracts, and start producing that good.
As bad as this story may sound (nobody wants red tape!), the strategy was actually successful...[continue reading]