As Lord David Sainsbury writes in his new book “Windows of Opportunity: How Nations Make Wealth,” Anglo-American nations have been guided by the “market efficiency” school, which has resulted in a widespread unwillingness to view government roles as critical to boosting innovation, growth, and competitiveness. Paul Krugman argued in his 1996 book Pop Internationalism that "if an economic doctrine is flatly, completely, and demonstrably wrong, the insistence that discussion adhere to that doctrine inevitably blurs the focus and diminishes the quality of policy discussion across a broad range of issues.”
Writing in American Compass, Rob Atkinson argues it's time for a new approach that he and Mike Lind call “national developmentalism.” Under this school, the key question for economic policy is how well it enables enterprises to be more innovative and efficient. Rejecting the old neoclassical doctrine in favor of the new national developmentalism is the most important economic policy task for our time.
