The Future of Innovation: Should the U.S. Copy China’s Industrial Policy?
Calls for revitalizing American industrial policy have multiplied in recent years, with many pundits and policymakers suggesting that the U.S. should consider taking on Europe and China by emulating their approaches to technological development. The goal would be to have Washington formulate a set of strategic innovation goals and mobilize government planning and spending around them.
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Not everyone agrees that the China threat is so significant, however. Some policy experts such as Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, argue that “there is no China crisis” and that “the current freakout” over China’s growing might is unwarranted. There are some good reasons to be concerned about China’s growing economic power relative to the U.S., but he notes that we heard similar lamentations in the last century about the Soviet Union and then Japan overtaking us economically.