Spatialising industrial policies: a view from the South

Abstract

A new approach to industrial policy which advances the 'spatial turn' of industrial policy thinking has matured and gained considerable attention in both developed and developing countries. However, the notion of 'spatiality' forwarded by the new approach is one which has essentially emerged from industrialised Northern economies and this raises questions relating to the largely uncritical way in which it is being adopted in developing countries. Drawing on original research conducted in Argentina, the paper demonstrates that without a context-sensitive industrial policy and a sound macro-economy, the policy tenets forwarded by the new approach are, in the South, condemned to fail.