Industrial Policy, Investment and Green Growth

Abstract

The Juncker Plan, along with other measures of economic policy, is an attempt to rectify the fall in demand of European investment, raising investment and innovation capacity of enterprises, in a framework of perceived excess of austerity policies and some progress towards a new European industrial (and fiscal) policy. The Plan indicates the need to reconstitute investment profitability and the importance of environmental policies. Green growth policies have become particularly popular in the last decade, but their effects could be much greater because of the growing importance of intangible investment and the industrial changes, such as those expected from the EU program “Industry 4.0”, the growing e change as market failure “global”, and because the green technologies seem to offer the prospect of a new technological, industrial, and research-driven paradigm. The UN Report “Better Growth”, “Better Climate” main thesis is that climate mitigation policies may not have a negative impact, but can even represent a stimulus for economic growth. The idea is that it is possible to combine growth and climate objectives by increasing resource efficiency, by investing in infrastructure and promoting innovation in urban policies, land use and energy sources.