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Industrial policy – government interventions to stimulate innovation, accelerate technological change, and promote selected industries – is back on mainstream policy agendas in the U.S., Europe and many developing countries. But even as the policy pendulum swings back toward government intervention, the knowledge base to guide industrial policy remains underdeveloped. Launched in Fall 2022, the Firms and Industrial Policy Idea Lab aims to strengthen this knowledge base, to provide a foundation for policies that promote innovation and shared prosperity.
Co-led by Professors Eric Verhoogen and Josh Whitford, the Lab engages faculty and students in interdisciplinary and collaborative discussions to gain new insights into firm behavior and what works (and doesn’t work) in industrial policy. Areas of exploration include the factors that shape technology adoption, product innovation, quality upgrading, R&D investments, patenting and other forms of innovative behavior; how such decisions are influenced by market conditions, network relationships and supply chain architecture; and novel ways to measure such decisions and influences.
To learn more about the Firms and Industrial Policy Idea Lab and get involved, please sign up for the Center for Political Economy newsletter.
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Grants
The Faculty Grant opportunity is now closed. The next application cycle will open in December 2025.
The Graduate Student Grant opportunity is now closed. The next application cycle will open in September 2025.