UK Competitiveness Policyvs. Japanese Industrial Policy

Abstract

It is often claimed that Japanese 'industrial policy' targeted high growth or high productivity growth sectors (see, inter alia, Johnson, I982; Carliner, I986; Nester, I99I; Tyson, 1992). It is then argued that because both the targeted industries and the Japanese economy have prospered, it follows that Japanese industrial policy must have been successful. Hence, Britain, and other advanced nations, either are justified in emulating, or should hasten to follow, the Japanese example. This raises the question of whether the United Kingdom's ' competitiveness policy' is the appropriate response or is a completely different animal. The purpose of this paper is to explore the main areas in contention, but before doing so it is important to be clear about what one means by industrial and competitiveness policies.