Industrial Policy: The Case Of Shipbuilding

Panle Barwick and Myrto Kalouptsidi join Steven Davis for a lively discussion on the economics and history of the shipbuilding industry. The US dominated global shipbuilding during World Wars I and II but could not sustain its competitive position afterwards. China has come to dominate global shipbuilding in the 21^st century but at great cost to its own people. Steve and his guest discuss economic and policy factors that drove these developments and draw lessons for the practice of industrial policy.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Panle Jia Barwick is the Todd E. and Elizabeth H. Warnock Distinguished Chair Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research interests include industrial organization, the Chinese economy, and environmental economics. She co-founded the Pan Asia Pacific Sustainability Initiative at UW and the Cornell Institute for China Economic Research.

Myrto Kalouptsidi is the Augustus Cobb Professor of International Economics at Harvard University. He research interests include industrial organization, international trade, and transportation markets. She received the Frisch Medal in 2022 for her co-authored article on “Geography, Transportation, and Endogenous Trade Costs.”

RELATED SOURCES

• "Industrial policy: Lessons from Shipbuilding” by Panle Jia Barwick, Myrto Kalouptsidi and Nahim Bin Zahur, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2024.
• “Industrial Policy: Lessons from China,” by Panle Jia Barwick, Myrto Kalouptsidi and Nahim Bin Zahur, 18 September 2019, VoxChina.
• “Why Can’t the US Build Ships?” by Brian Potter, Construction Physics, 5 September 2024.
• Related Episodes of Economics, Applied: “Chokepoints and Supply-Chain Vulnerabilities," 20 May 2026. Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown