industrial development

Rwandan industrial policy, which licensed and supported textile manufacturers to produce high-quality masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully reduced mask prices, increased mask uptake, and slowed the spread of COVID-19. The intervention ave...

Equal land distribution in pre-industrial East Asia paradoxically drove poverty by enabling higher fertility among landowning households, creating population pressure that depressed wages. This dynamic explains why East Asia diverged from Western Eur...

When fertiliser prices spike, farmers in countries dependent on fertiliser imports are hit especially hard, and governments must grapple with a range of trade-offs in how they respond.

Industrial policy, a powerful tool for economic development in the ‘Asian Miracles’, was based on the three key principles: promoting sophisticated export-oriented industries, fostering innovation and competition, and building accountable leading age...

China’s rise was powered by an export-led growth model reinforced by trade liberalisation, place-based and industrial policies, massive infrastructure investment, and a governance system that strongly incentivised local growth.

South Korea’s industrial transformation was driven by the mutually reinforcing promotion of technology adoption and exports – most notably through the Heavy and Chemical Industry Drive – which generated lasting gains in manufacturing and exports but ...

The nationwide reshuffling of universities in China during the 1950s sheds light on the long-run effects of higher education on industrial development.