Documents industrial policy 362 results

"Over the last two decades, total factor productivity (TFP) in Italy decreased by 0.2% per year, while increasing on average in the Euro-area countries. This decline suggests the existence of large inefficiencies in the allocation of resources, making the Italian case particularly interesting and suitable in order to study the role of misallocation. In this article, I quantify the within-industry misallocation of inputs in Italy over the period 1993–2011, by applying the Hsieh and Klenow's methodology. Using a micro-level longitudinal dataset of Italian manufacturing firms, I find that, in the hypothetical absence of distortions, aggregate TFP in manufacturing would be boosted by 58% in 1993, by 67% in 2006 and by 80% in 2011. This leads to a twofold conclusion: first, misallocation plays a crucial role in determining the inefficiency level of the Italian manufacturing sector; second, misallocation has increased over time. Given the magnitude of the results obtained and the policy implications related thereto, I take a step ahead by checking to what extent the degree of misallocation can be attributed to specific characteristics of the Italian firms: it emerges that misallocation is higher for firms located in the south and at low-technological intensity, as well as for small or young firms."

"The industrial transformation towards a more sustainable, technological and knowledge-intensive economy can bring prosperity to the EU, but also bears the risk of increasing disparities among the EU territories. On the one hand, some regions are more fit to benefit from these changes. On the other, economic activity, especially one that is knowledge- and innovation-intensive, tends to spatially cluster in areas that are already more advanced. Productivity, innovation, skills and thriving firms will increasingly concentrate in a few wealthy areas, while the less prosperous are excluded from the gains.

The current debate on an EU industrial policy overlooks this issue of inequality and instead focuses on competitiveness vis-à-vis global competitors, key technologies and achieving sustainability commitments. While this is important, the focus on the technological frontier, international trade and knowledge-intensive production could create unintended negative consequences due to the lack of an explicit goal for even development and inclusive industrial transition.

In this Policy Brief, Policy Analyst Marta Pilati argues that the EU industrial strategy should be centred on the issue of inequality. This can be achieved by challenging misconceived assumptions, critically evaluating past and future policies, and designing measures that target all EU regions and successfully bring them along the transformation."

"European industry is falling behind. New and unprecedented challenges and megatrends, from a slowdown in global trade to digital disruption and climate change, are making it increasingly difficult to stay ahead of the curve. However, despite these fast-paced developments, industry remains the backbone of the European economy, delivering high-quality jobs, innovation and world-class companies. To retain its competitive edge, the EU must embrace change and renew its industrial strategy.

There is growing political momentum for a revived EU industrial strategy, both in the member states and in the new von der Leyen Commission, which pledged to put forward a new industrial strategy as part of a “European Green Deal”.

This Issue Paper presents the results of the EPC's Task Force on an Industry Action Plan for the European Union, which started in February 2018. It argues that in renewing its industrial strategy, the EU should put in place an ‘Industry Action Plan', complete with new policy tools and concrete industrial initiatives. Beyond mainstreaming industrial competitiveness across policy areas, the Action Plan should provide a more holistic and policy-oriented approach, with a vision towards 2030 that focuses on competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy:

Firstly, to ensure that the European industry remains competitive, the EU should aim to play a stronger role in global value chains, with a higher value-added.
Secondly, the EU must create the conditions for the European industry, as well as the products and services it provides, to become sustainable and thus contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and climate-neutrality in alignment with the United Nation's Paris Agreement. European industry should become fully climate-neutral by 2050 and seize the opportunity to become a global leader in sustainable and circular business models.
Finally, an Industry Action Plan should contribute to achieving greater strategic autonomy for Europe by better responding to distorted competition and levering market power, and moving towards more technological sovereignty. Europe should mobilise all the tools at its disposal to become a global leader in developing digital technologies that address the societal, environmental and health challenges of today.
This Paper includes a list of recommendations centred around five policy strands:

making the Single Market (including competition policy) work;
improving innovation policy and achieving technological sovereignty;
acting strategically and enforcing reciprocity;
ensuring a fair and inclusive industrial transition; and
climate-proofing industry with a 2050 climate neutrality roadmap."

"Les actions de l'Union européenne face à la crise sanitaire ont été contraintes par les traités (incompétence juridique) et de fait, par les ressources politiques et financières très limitées qui peuvent être consacrées à la politique de santé européenne. La sécurité des approvisionnements d'équipements médicaux à l'échelle européenne n'a pu être assurée, dans un contexte de divergence des trajectoires industrielles des États membres qui rend difficile l'émergence d'une politique industrielle commune."