Bretton Woods Embraces Industrial Policy

Major multilateral economic institutions (the IMF, World Bank) have quietly moved from blanket skepticism of industrial policy to a conditional acceptance that targeted, accountable state intervention can aid development. The shift is driving both more research into what works and more real‑world experiments in countries trying Studwell‑style, export‑oriented industrial strategies. — If the IMF and World Bank normalize industrial policy, developing countries and donors will change funding, advice, and conditionality — reshaping growth paths and geopolitics for decades.