Follow, lead, or override the market?: varieties of industrial policy, economic structures and state-business relations

Abstract

What explains the variation in industrialization strategies across countries? In this thesis paper, I explore the influence of the business environment and economic elites in the varieties of industrial policy. I theorize that differences in how firms are integrated into an economy and relative proximity between economic and political elites are crucial to understanding why policymakers choose different policy paths. I test this hypothesis on two prototypical cases of successful late-industrialization: South Korea and Taiwan. I find suggestive historical evidence that initial conditions of the economic structure and state business-relations critically shape the long-term developmental project.