Industrial Strategy: Policy Like It's 1964.

The remedies provided in Prosperity and Justice: a Plan for the New Economy are less convincing than its diagnosis. It entails a substantial shift back towards selective industrial policies and resource allocation by the state rather than the market, with the ambition of changing the structure of the economy. Many economists are likely to be sceptical of some of the arguments put forward in the report. An obvious issue is the huge policy discretion to be given to government without effective constraints, and the significance of government failure is overlooked. It is a triumph of hope over experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]