Home » Ausgaben » Progressive Industrial Policy » A Ladder without Upper Rungs: On the Limitations of Industrial Policies in TNC Capitalism. The Case of the European Union

A Ladder without Upper Rungs: On the Limitations of Industrial Policies in TNC Capitalism. The Case of the European Union

Autor*innen: Weissenbacher, Rudy
https://doi.org/10.20446/JEP-2414-3197-34-3-73
Volume XXXIV • Issue 3/4 • 2018
Seiten 73-107
Keywords: EU, core-periphery, uneven development, commodity chains, manufacturing

Abstract

Global production and trade is significantly organised by Transnational Companies (TNC). In this article, I will argue that even if one considers industrial development as a proxy for development or leading to development in a broad sense, the prospects for ‘progress’ in contemporary capitalism are very limited. I will revisit theory, method, and proxies for ‘development’ and ‘industrial development’, as used by Arrighi and Drangel (1986) and Arrighi et al. (2003). I will adapt their approach for a core-periphery typology in the EU, and use it in order to estimate industrial convergence compared with convergence in ‘development’ (in EU language: convergence and cohesion). Furthermore, I will suggest additional proxies to estimate (spatial) politico-economic power in the hierarchy of TNC capitalism. I will close with concluding remarks on policies, from a dependency perspective.

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