Foundations of Political Economy

For thirty years industrial policy was a phrase to be avoided in polite economic company. Today it is the organising principle of the largest public investment programmes since the post-war era. This series asks what changed, whether the new interventionism can be made accountable, and who wins and loses when states pick directions rather than winners.

Sessions combine a close reading of one or two foundational texts with a conversation with a practitioner who has had to make these decisions in real time.