Abstract
For over a decade, a series of wrenching structural changes, external shocks and deep recessions battered the industrialized economies. In varying degrees, all of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries experienced declining economic growth, lagging productivity, rising unemployment and higher inflation in the 1970s and early 1980s. The circle of distressed industries widened beyond primary goods producers to include larger, higher-wage, more capital-intensive industries with extensive links to other economic sectors. The developed nations faced new Lesser Developed Countries (LDC) competitors in high-volume manufacturing using mature technologies and relatively unskilled labour. The US, in addition, was shaken by an emerging challenge to its leadership in many of the advanced technologies presumed to underlie its future comparative advantage.
The author is grateful to Mark Tauber of Georgetown University for research assistance in preparing this chapter.
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© 1988 Policy Studies Organization
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Merrill, S.A. (1988). The Politics of Micropolicy: Innovation and Industrial Policy in the United States. In: Roessner, J.D. (eds) Government Innovation Policy. Policy Studies Organization Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08882-9_4
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