This specialized report has been crafted to help overcome the reluctance to undertake industrial policy resulting from the mindset of an era of conditionalities and liberalization. It provides a comprehensive review of the possibilities, highlighting the complexities and shedding light on the debate on selective and general industrial policy. It makes a basic point: policy amounts to choice. The report proposes supporting infant industries while making use of comparative advantages that have long been the focus of industrial policymaking. It serves as a guide to identify capacity development and advisory services required for the integration of transformative industrial policies into national development plans.
Lastly, industrial policymaking may yield different results and have different outcomes, like any other policy. There is a need to monitor implementation, learn from the experiences of multiple role models — the forerunner in particular — and adapt those lessons.
African leaders, policymakers and researchers and, indeed, the wider public, which has a genuine interest in promoting African structural transformation, will certainly enjoy the read.
