La industrial policy is back in fashion. Praised in the 70s and 80s and then entered into a shadow, only to find a jolt with the piano Industry 4.0 by Minister Carlo Calenda in 2016 under the Renzi government, industrial policy has more recently returned to favour in the United States with theInflation Reduction Act aimed at supporting American technological innovation but not without protectionist implications. Why is industrial policy back in fashion in Europe too and what kind of industrial policy are we talking about? A sharp answer, in a recent seminar organized by Astrid, given by the former Minister of Economy and current President of Unicredit, Pier Carlo Padoan, according to which "industrial policy comes back into play when things go badly". And in fact the latest data on industrial production in Italy, France and Germany are alarming. But Europe has already opened its eyes Draghi Report on European competitiveness where it is finally clearly stated that if we want to build a future for the Old Continent we cannot look at reality with the rear-view mirror but we must face the epochal challenges of the three transitions with huge investments (800 billion a year) and above all with radical reforms. The competition that counts is no longer that between Italy, France and Germany but that between Europe in front of America and China. It is therefore time to change the horizon and change the toolbox.
“For a government that loves the market”, a thought-provoking book by Claudio De Vincenti
And it is in this dimension that the very recent book by the economist and former minister for the South is placed, Claudius DeVincenti, whose title is a program in itself: "For a government that loves the market. A certain idea of public intervention", published by the Mill. Combining his experience as a scholar with that of a man of government, De Vincenti dismantles old paradigms of a liberal or interventionist and dirigiste nature, and argues that a modern economic policy from which a new industrial policy can also be born must avoid two mistakes: that of considering the invisible hand of the market to be self-sufficient but, at the same time, also that of those who believe that public intervention in the economy can be self-sufficient. This is not the case but, on the contrary, to foster a climate of trust that is the lifeblood of the modern economy, it is necessary to avoid the old ideological oppositions between State e market and instead find a dialectical and harmonious relationship between the visible and invisible hand without downward compromises. It is in this context that the need for a new industrial policy arises which, however, precisely because of the size of the epochal challenges recalled by the Draghi Report, does not condemn us within a purely domestic enclosure but is placed in a fully European horizon. De Vincenti wisely writes that to put in place a new economic policy and a new industrial policy, a clear vision of the future would be needed: he is absolutely right, but on this it is better not to delude ourselves and to face the Italian reality for what it is. After the Draghi Government, which we will long regret, there has been only pitch darkness. Better then to turn the tables and change the playing field, betting everything on Europe without hiding its problems but also its potential.
A new European policy is possible and urgent if it does not degenerate into local squabbles but concentrates its resources and energies in the competitive challenge with the Usa and with the China. A European industrial policy is a test bed that must certainly take advantage of the successful experience of the Next Generation Eu but go much further, because it is no longer a question of collecting resources at a European level and leaving the choice of projects to be financed to the member countries but, on the contrary, it must be assigned to the centre, that is to say to the European Commission, also the selection of fields of action and the implementation of interventions, concentrating them on those that really have a chance of competing successfully. Can the European automotive industry still be competitive? Maybe yes, but on Artificial Intelligence, for example, it is better not to have too many illusions because our delays are almost unbridgeable.
The new European industrial policy implies the transfer of national sovereignty: a difficult but not impossible challenge
A new and efficient European industrial policy clearly implies a transfer of sovereignty national, but who will ever be able to convince not only the League of Matteo Salvini but all the Italian and European right-wing parties? Nobody. It's a losing battle from the beginning. Yet there is a hope of reversing the course of things and it is the one evoked by Riccardo Perissich in the Astrid seminar. To counteract sovereignist and nationalist pressures, we need to grow a grassroots movement of businesses that forces governments to understand that survival depends on the ability to face, without protectionism, competition from America and China and therefore to fully open the doors to the European playing field. Difficult challenge? Extremely difficult. But not facing it is equivalent to committing suicide and giving up from the start.
