Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries

Fasteau (The Male Machine) and Fletcher (Free Trade Doesn’t Work) are leading members of the bipartisan research and advocacy group Coalition for a Prosperous America. Their ambitious book successfully argues for the importance of industrial policies for rational economic planning and calls for the market to be supplemented by economic planning. The book’s first section provides theoretical underpinnings for industry policy and explains how to identify industries capable of the most growth. The authors examine and expertly analyze the tools an industry might make use of—export subsidies, targets, and more—regarding trade and monetary policies. The second part of the book details eight case studies of countries and shows how and why industrial policies failed or succeeded. The authors note the history of industrial policy, mainly in the United States, from colonial times to the present and consider how industrial policies can encourage innovation. They back their findings and conclusions up with case studies of U.S. industries and clusters.