This course develops policies to address four critical challenges: creating good jobs, accelerating the green transition, reducing global poverty, and promoting economic growth. The premise is that these challenges are all rooted in a common imperative: promoting structural transformation towards new forms of economic activity (that are more productive, greener, and create pathways for broad prosperity). Traditionally, governments have employed a mix of industrial, innovation, and place-based policies to foster structural change. We will consider lessons of economic history and comparative evidence (from the experiences of advanced and developing economies) on the use of such policies. We will examine how the effectiveness of such policies can be enhanced and the range of goals they can achieve broadened. Using a variety of cases from around the world, we will discuss the theory and design of new approaches that update traditional industrial policy instruments, focusing in particular on iterative, collaborative, experimentalist modes of governance.
Prerequisites: No economics background is required for enrollment in this course. Degree program students are not allowed as auditors.