Prof. Robert Wade (London School of Economics, UK) discusses industrial policy, the challenges of economic development for emerging countries like Brazil and... 2013 Level: beginner Prof. Robert Wade discusses industrial policy - Rethinking the State Robert Wade Rethinking the State How countries achieve long-term GDP growth is up there with the most important topics in economics. As Nobel Laureate Robert Lucas put it “the consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: once one starts to think about them, it is hard to think about anything else.” Ricardo Hausmann et al take a refreshing approach to this question in their Atlas of Economic Complexity. They argue a country’s growth depends on the complexity of its economy: it must have a diverse economy which produces a wide variety of products, including ones that cannot be produced much elsewhere. The Atlas goes into detail on exactly what complexity means, how it fits the data, and what this implies for development. Below I will offer a summary of their arguments, including some cool data visualisations. 2020 Level: beginner GDP Growth: It’s Complicated Cahal Moran Rethinking Economics An essay of the writing workshop on Nigeria’s Readiness for and the Effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution 2020 Level: advanced The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Economic Impact and Possible Disruptions Emmanuel Obijole Exploring Economics An essay of the writing workshop on Nigeria’s Readiness for and the Effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution 2020 Level: advanced The Role of Women in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Damilola Phebean Owasanoye Exploring Economics An essay of the writing workshop on Nigeria’s Readiness for and the Effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution 2020 Level: advanced The Role of Women in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Peter Ogundairo Exploring Economics Global Value Chains (GVCs) started to play an increasing and key role in the global economy from the 1990s on. The market mechanism in GVCs supports industrialisation in the Global South and under certain conditions product and process upgrading. But GVCs do not lead to the catching-up of countries in the sense of them approaching real GDP per capita levels comparable with developed countries. These arguments are supported by a critical interpretation of the traditional trade theory, the New Trade Theory and specific approaches to explain GVCs, especially different governance structures and power relationships. Several case studies support these arguments. For catching-up, countries need comprehensive horizontal and vertical industrial policy and policies for social coherence. The small number of countries which managed to catch up did this in different variations. Level: beginner Global Value Chains in economic development   Institute for International Political Economy Berlin In analyzing the global competition between Chinese and Indian tea, Andrew B. Liu challenges past economic histories premised on the technical “divergence” between the West and the Rest, arguing instead that seemingly traditional technologies and practices were central to modern capital accumulation across Asia. 2020 Level: advanced Tea War Andrew B. Liu Yale University Press