Debate on Industrial Policy

The debate on industrial policy has been in full swing among the academic circles in recent years. The crux of this debate is not whether China needs industrial policies, but rather, the kind of industrial policies it wants.

Given the profound changes to the domestic and international environments, and institutional background during China’s industrial development, industrial policies must be able to make up for market failures, while avoiding government failures.

To this end, it is suggested to establish a market-friendly industrial policy system dominated by functional industrial policies, in accordance with the requirements of building an interactive and cooperative government-market relationship to help transform and upgrade China’s industries.