THE RETURN OF INDUSTRIAL POLICY: (What) Can Africa learn from Latin America?

High growth in Africa and the changes in the global economic landscape have contributed to redefine development policy and open new spaces for debating the role of industrial policies in promoting structural transformation and development. Despite the high growth of Africa during the last decade, the continent not solved the problems of youth employment and low productivity of the domestic industry. Nor it has seen the flourishing of domestic entrepreneurship. After decades in which industrial policies were banned from the development agenda, their return is welcomed. However "What to do?" and "How to do it?" remain unanswered questions. Latin America is often regarded as a “failure” in contrast with the “success” of South East Asia. Nonetheless, the region has accumulated learning about designing and implementing industrial policies, especially taking into account the resurgence of interest in the last decade. The Latin American experience in industrial policies offers lessons that could help the policy making process in Africa, if adapted to the specificities and varieties of its different countries.