Behind the Curve Can Manufacturing Still Provide Inclusive Growth

In this book, Robert Z. Lawrence argues that these efforts are unlikely to succeed. He demonstrates that deeply rooted forces common to all countries―technological change, shifting consumer spending patterns, and trade―account for lagging manufacturing employment and that these trends are unlikely to be reversed. The industrial sector's historic role as an engine of opportunity and inclusive growth is unsustainable. Government efforts to promote manufacturing to achieve goals such as industrial self-sufficiency, green transitions, and digital technologies, however well intentioned, may even make economic growth less inclusive. Instead, new policies are needed to help people, places, and countries cope with inevitable changes in the composition of employment.