Hard to think about anything else

We are asked to present a trade-related paper in Prof. McCalman's class. I pick Dani Rodrik's provocative "Industrial Policy for The Twenty-First Century". Provocative is an adjective used by Prof. McCalman, but I think Rodrik would rather call it "part and parcel of today's broader, conventional agenda of development."

After browsing through the paper, I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. It is not a conventional economics paper. There isn't any model or mathematics. Instead it cuts right into the economic meanings of government intervention in development.

The economic success of East Asia is often compared to the failure in Latin America. Economists have been trying to solve the mystery and prescribing medicines to developing countries. Yet I don't see any academic piece as powerful as Rodrik's. As a libertarian, I seldom believe government should play any role in economic development. But Rodrik does have insightful analysis that provides foundations for the necessity of government intervention.

Since my presentation is only open to our class, you are not going to know my full critique of this paper. But if you have too much time to kill, read it. It will probably change your perspectives of this world. As Robert Lucas' famous quote says, "Once one starts to think about [economic development], it is hard to think about anything else."

(Picture: Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)