Graham Watkins | Watkins Advisory

In a new major report, the World Bank conceded that its decades-long war on industrial policy was wrong, saying its old advice “has not aged well — it has the practical value of a floppy disk today.” But this is not an intellectual awakening. The World Bank's doctrine shifted because the means through which Western nations can maintain their dominance shifted — not because economists suddenly discovered new evidence. The world’s wealthiest nations are now pursuing industrial policy so openly that it can no longer be denied to the rest of the world. When the geopolitical winds shift, so does the ideology of institutions where wealthy nations' interests are deeply entrenched.