Business Day - 9 May 2017 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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RESPONSE TO COLUMN

Import tariffs aren't just set up to unfirly protect commercial farmers

Huffington Post - 10 May 2017 by Tinashe Kapuya and Wandile Sihlobo

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Letter in Business Day - 11 May 2017: Makgetla is wrong about food prices and tariff formulation

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This brief presents three pragmatic industrial policy implementation ideas based on recent heterodox thinking. The examples were identified during the research for a theoretical think piece on current heterodox industrial policy literature. The ideas are presented without the context of supporting theory, but simply as ideas that incumbent industrial policy decision-makers may find interesting.

Download think piece: Current heterodox industrial policy thinking: A muting of aspirations or sound pragmatic suggestions?

IMMP 2017 4-8 SEPTEMBER 2017: CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) is holding the first edition of the Industrial Policy for Policy Makers training programme (IPPM) alongside the annual African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE).

The programme is for senior government officials from South Africa and SADC and will be held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 4th to the 8th of September 2017. There is no charge to attend the training, however, places are limited and applicants will be accepted through an application process. South African delegates will be required to cover their own transport and accommodation costs. Up to 10 delegates from SADC countries will have their travel and accommodtion costs covered by the programme.

The five-day intensive training course is focused on Industrial Policy and consists of lectures and seminars taught by leading international and African economists. It is of particular relevance given the recent adoption of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Action Plan. The programme consists of both daytime and evening lectures.

Participants are expected to attend all lectures.  

Overview

IPPM will cover essential topics in development economics with a focus on key aspects of industrial policy. Several lectures will be held jointly with the APORDE programme. The training will include sessions on:

• Critical perspectives on development economics
• Market, state and institutions in economic development
• Governance
• The developmental state and industrial policy
• Development finance and industrial development
• Industrial development in SADC
• Technology acquisition
• Taxation and economic development
• Regional value chains and industrial development

A list of confirmed lecturers includes:

• Chris Cramer (SOAS, University of London)
• Ha-Joon Chang (Cambridge University)
• Mushtaq Khan (SOAS)
• Judith Fessehaie (University of Johannesburg)
• Ben Fine (SOAS)
• Stephanie Blankenburg (UNCTAD)
• Jonathan Di John (SOAS)
• Thandika Mkandawire (London School of Economics)

Applications

Applicants should be senior government officials in SADC countries working in economic ministries / departments and be proficient in English.

The following documents should be sent to Rozale@tips.org.za:

• The completed application form
• A recent curriculum vitae not exceeding 5 pages in length
• A letter from your employer confirming your availability to attend for the full duration of the training
• A motivation letter  (Maximum 500 words)

The application form is attached.

Applications close on Friday 21 July 2017 at 8 o’clock in the morning, Johannesburg time. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

Candidates will be notified by e-mail of the outcome of their applications at the latest by the end of July 2017.

Should you have any queries, please contact: Rozale@tips.org.za  

Presentations

Practical Ideas in Heterodox Industrial Policy Thinking: Sandy Lowitt (TIPS Research Fellow)
South Africa's Industrial Policy - by the Numbers: Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

Discussant: Garth Strachan (DDG: Industrial Development Division, Department of Trade and Industry)

Background

Industrial Policy in the 21st century has fundamentally changed in nature. (Largely) gone is the achingly abstract discussion of the motivations behind industrial policy and whether it is a good idea or not. In its place is a recognition that industrial policy is undertaken everywhere in the world, even if it is not openly called industrial policy. It is now widely accepted that industrial policy is a response to market failure just as education policy or health policy are responses to such failures. This normalisation of industrial policy has allowed economists to stop focusing on defending and justifying the pursuit of industrial policy (especially in lagging economies). Instead they can now focus on extant, fine-grained, real world problems facing incumbent policymakers operating in difficult situations. Through this lens, problems with industrial policy design and implementation are viewed - not as insurmountable - but merely the normal course of business which any sensible policy framework must address.

The presentation by Sandy Lowitt will cover her recent Paper on Industrial Policy and she will present three pragmatic industrial policy implementation ideas based on recent heterodox thinking, which is the subject of her recent Policy Brief.

The presentation by Dr Makgetla will look at the overall patterns of industrial development since 1994 and cover key sectors in the economy that have been targeted for industrial policy. Given the shifts in the context of manufacturing since the transition to democracy, a review of key trends in the sector over the past two decades should yield important insights for policy in the coming period. Key questions include the evolution of the structure of production and investment within manufacturing; the impact of the commodity boom and exchange-rate fluctuations on manufacturing profitability and production; and the shifts in ownership and control since 1994.

Presenters

Sandy Lowitt is a TIPS Research Associate. She holds a Master of Commerce from Wits University in Economics. She established the Economics Department in the Gauteng Provincial Government in 1995 and remained at with GPG until 2006. While specialising in economic research and industrial policy and strategy she also created and ran Blue IQ, which delivered projects such as the Gautrain, the Innovation hub and the automotive supplier park. Since leaving the government, Sandy has remained active in public policy research and strategy development.

Neva Makgetla is a senior economist at TIPS. Makgetla has published widely on the South African economy and worked for many years in government, most recently as Deputy Director General for Policy in the Economics Development Department, as well as in COSATU.

The latest TIPS newsletter reports on some of our recent projects, including the latest editions of the REB State of Small Business and Provincial Review, the Black Intustrialists Case Studies, the Annual Forum and APORDE, with links to recent research and policy briefs. Read more here.

Independent Media - 15 April 2017 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Medical Brief  - 7 September 2016

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Business Day - 11 April 2017 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Business Day - 28 March 2017 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

Read online at Business Day.

Or read here as a PDF.

The paper considers new heterodox theoretical contributions to the industrial policy debate in developing countries. Specifically it focuses on the challenge of “getting industrial policy right in circumstances where the country is run by flawed leaders presiding over a politically weak and internally fragmented state” (Change 2010). The paper covers new theoretical thinking on:1) institutions, their quality,  how they came to be and the direction of the causality between institutional improvement and economic growth and wealth creation; 2) business state relations and the need to ensure that IP instruments are compatible with existing political power balances; and 3)the capacity and capability of the bureaucracy and the role it plays in ensuring that the state can be embedded with business but not captured by its interests. The paper concludes with some case study examples of interesting IP initiatives, which demonstrate some of this new IP thinking. Examples include the implementation of second best institutions; a process approach to IP in which industry and government make joint discoveries of areas of global competitiveness; thinking about IP at a specific product level;  and  the islands of excellence work around solutions in cases in which a bureaucracy is constrained.

See Policy Brief: Three new practical ideas in heterodox industrial policy thinking