Naslov
Introductory Remarks, International Scientific Conference "The Role of Europe’s Industry in the 21st Century"

Autori
Radošević, Dubravko

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
International Scientific Conference "The Role of Europe’s Industry in the 21st Century"

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 21.11.2013

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Ostalo

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
industrial policy; Europe 2020; SEE; new development economics

Sažetak
I would like to welcome all participants at the international conference on modern industry in Europe and in particular, the colleagues – reserach felow that submitted their research papers. We have 4 working papers covering the wide issues on industry recovery in Europe, with special focus on re-industrialization in SEE within the context of new economic theories and new macroeconomic realities in Europe (prolonged recession in eurozone and challenges in 2014 for EU member states). In Croatia, industrial slump deepens in Q3 (-3, 9 yoy decline), and is one of the largest fall of industrial production in Europe according to EUROSTAT statistics. So, it justifies our intentions to discuss some key issues on modern industrial policy. In addition, the conclusions of the conference could be useful for policy makers in SEE and Croatia as well. But, what is our theoretical framework for the new approach in industrial policy and government intervention? The recent global financial crisis generates much debate on the soundness of mainstream economic theories, in particular to the so called „Neoclassical“ Economic Mainstream. This debate fosters the opportunity to re-examine our understanding of the process of economic development and to take stock of what has been learned from the past experience. Croatia as a new EU member state has anchored itself to the wider EU institutional framework. Post-2008 experiences suggest that sustainable growth and stable national economy has to be accompanied by policy of industrial and technological upgrading. The development economics thinking that provide new approach to development policy and new industrial strategy is „New Structural Economics” (NSE), by Justin Yifu Lin. Very briefly, the NSE is based on three pillars: (a) understanding comparative advantages as the evolving potential of the country’s endowment structure ; (b) reliance on the market as allocation mechanism at any stage of development, and, (c) the recognition of a facilitating role of the state in the process of industrial upgrading. NSE introduces an important distinction between comparative advantage following (CAF) and comparative advantage defying (CAD) and has developed CAF/CAD framework to analyse soundness of state initiatives. NSE argues that governments need to support industry specific infrastructure which are consistent with current or potential (latent) comparative advantage and hence only broad horizontal policies are not sufficient. Horizontal and vertical policies are what is needed in the process of industrial recovery. NSE major analytical tools – The Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework (GIFF) - are used by The World Bank. GIFF is primarily focused on current and latent comparative advantages and on the process itself by assuming that the government is able to maintain competitive market environment as one of its major preconditions. Also, modern approach to macroeconomic policies is precondition. It highlights the respective roles played in industrialization of three kinds of economic policies: trade liberalization, promotion of non-traditional exports, and current-account policies (including, critically, the exchange rate). My intention here is to move beyond specific issues of industrial policies discussed in the papers that are presented at today's conference and to encourage participants on discussion how the challenge of industrialization affects the stance of external policies more broadly. Very briefly, most modern research papers (Dani Rodrik, Ha Joon Chang, Justin Yifu Lin, Daron Acemoglu, Paul Krugman, Olivier Blanchard and others) points to a two-pronged strategy in support of industrial development. What is needed is both a industrial policy targeted at new exportables, and a supportive exchange-rate policy that promotes production of tradables across the board. Without a relatively stable and competitive exchange rate, it is practically impossible to induce investment and entrepreneurship in tradables of any kind. But without more directly targeted industrial policies, exchange rate policies alone cannot be a very powerful tool for promoting diversification. The secret of the success of high-growth economies lies in a combination of these two types of policies. Finally, are New Development Economics and New Structural Economics a real alternatives for SEE countries? My understanding is that new approach will be accepted by the majority of participants in our conference and that we could build new industrial policies on modern development theories. In first paper, „Industrial Development in the EU: What Lessons for the Future EU States?“, written by Milica Uvalić and Mirela Damiani from University of Perugia (Italy), the paper analyzes the main characteristics and major changes in manufacturing industry in the EU member states over the past twenty years, in order to draw some main lessons for the Southeast European economies in transition. In second paper, “State Aid and External Competitiveness in the European Union”, by Roman Stollinger and Mario Holzner, from Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, investigate the relationship between state aid (subsidies) for the manufacturing sector and export performance. In the third research paper, by Sarah Guillou, from Sciences Po University in Paris, “European Heterogeneity in Demand for Industrial Policy”, model industrial policy as a result of demand in subsidy expressed by economic agents and of the interactions of agents and government’s objectives. And, finally, last paper “The Legal Boundaries of Croatian Industrial Policy in the Areas of Tax Law and Technological Advancement”, written by Šime Josipović (Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Munich), Amina Nanić (Lakić and Partners Law Firm Ltd.) and Anton Jukić (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich) is a very specific research on the legal borders of the industrial policy as a essential factor in policy planning that must be incorporated in every single strategy in Europe.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

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