Prospects for Policy Integration in Low Income Economies
In the final chapter of the book, we turn to the question of the prospects for policy integration in the low income countries, or the poorest of the rest of the industrializing economies in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. Is there any evidence that these low income countries can or have practiced policy integration? Does policy integration offer opportunities for low income countries to pursue industry-led growth strategies in ways that balance concerns with the environment and those of poverty reduction? Answering these questions is a difficult challenge in that far less is known about the institutions and strategies of industrial capabilities building in low income countries than is known about industrial capabilities building in the East Asian NIEs. To partially address this concern, we have conducted a questionnaire survey of the effectiveness of industrial capability building strategies and institutions in a sample of 27 low income countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the former Soviet Union. We then combine these survey data with the published measures on country industrial competitiveness and on macro-institutional conditions, as used in Chapter 2, to provide an initial assessment of the effectiveness of industrial capability building strategies in these countries, as well as the macro- and meso-level institutional obstacles to effective policy integration. Building on the analyses of industrial upgrading presented in Chapter 2 and of policy integration in Chapter 3, we need to consider three broad domains of institutional effectiveness. First, we need to examine the extent to which the basic enabling conditions identified in Chapter 2 are, or are not, being met in low income countries. In Chapter 2 we argued that openness to trade and investment, macroeconomic stability, political stability, development of a substantial physical and human infrastructure base, and bureaucratic capability in government are critical to industrial competitiveness and industrial capability building. These variables, along with better resource pricing policies and the development of an effective environmental regulatory agency embedded in the institutions of industrial policy, are also critical for improving the environmental performance of industry (Chapters 3 and 9).