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With so many states committed to economic transformation, and so many experts ready to provide technical advice on how to achieve it, why does progress so often remain elusive? In Pursuit of Prosperity examines the process of economic upgrading—moving to more valuable activities in production, improving technology, knowledge, and skills, and participating in global value chains—and develops a new theory to explain the form and success of national policies designed to promote it. 

Using a mixed-methods approach, Charles R. Hankla draws upon archival research and interviews from France and India as well as quantitative models of sixteen countries across six decades. He finds that when state and private actors are aligned in their institutional structures, which can happen in both corporatist and pluralist systems, industrial policy tends to be more effective. It is when the state or the private sector independently dominates industrial policy that poor outcomes are most likely. As In Pursuit of Prosperity shows, rather than being fixed characteristics of countries, policymaking styles vary across time and across sectors of the economy, reflecting the changing power dynamics and organizational resources of stakeholders. The book sheds light on how industrial policy—which is experiencing a comeback in the United States and beyond—can best be harnessed for upgrading. It offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between state politics and economic performance in the modern globalized world.

Discussing the role of intellectuals in the political transition of the late 1980s and early 1990s and their participation in the political life of the new democracies of Central Europe, this book presents original essays from authors who discuss the eight countries in the region. In the Introduction, the editor gives a historical overview of the tradition of the political involvement of intellectuals in these countries, especially in the nineteenth century. The chapters which follow describe the typical political and social attitude of Central European intellectuals, including writers, poets, artists, and scientists. A unique feature of the book is that it deals not only with the role of intellectuals in the preparation of the peaceful revolutions in the individual countries, but also critically analyzes their role in the transition and their behavior in the emerging democracies. The most striking phenomenon, common to all the countries studied, is the disillusionment of intellectuals and their disappointment in the years following the transition, a period when the role of prophet should be replaced by that of politician for those who have chosen to stay in politics. This phenomenon has, in general, been much less subjected to systematic study than the role of intellectuals in the changes themselves.