Modern industrial policy and public-private councils at the subnational level: Mexico's experience in an international perspective
Robert Devlin & Carlo Pietrobelli
#2018-028
In recent years, the need for modern industrial policies has been
increasingly acknowledged in the literature and by the praxis of
developed and developing countries, including much of Latin America.
Whether a country should have an industrial policy is no longer in
question; rather, the issue is how to do it right. Nevertheless,
research is still incipient on the experience with the specific
institutional arrangements and governance structure required for
effective modern industrial policy, and this is especially true in large
countries with developed subnational governance structures. One
institutional mechanism considered vital to effective modern industrial
policy is the modality of public-private dialogue and problem solving
that supports a search for obstacles and solutions to agreed development
objectives.
This paper addresses the institutional foundations of industrial policy
at the subnational level, with new empirical evidence from a large
federal state-Mexico. It presents a detailed analysis of the governance
of 32 newly created public-private State Productivity Commissions. All
evidence analysed point to the fact that most of these commissions were
in a rudimentary state of development after more than three years since
the federal law promulgated them. Problems of governance in many ways
mirrored issues that often emerge in national councils, but were graver
in their depth and covered even the most rudimentary elements. Moreover,
the peculiarity of the CEPs emerging out of a federal labour law appears
to have generated overly narrow agendas. Central government's entities
have a major challenge to provide and mobilise technical,
administrative, and possibly financial support for the sub-national
commissions.
JEL Classification: F63; F68; L52; O25
Keywords: Economic Development; Industrial Policy; Alliances;
Committees; Institutions and Growth; Governance; Positive Analysis of
Policy Formation and Implementation; Search; Federalism; Mexico