Archive · 9 Nov 2025
Rodrik Advocates for New Economic Playbook Amid Global Challenges
Imagine our world has big problems like a changing climate, fewer good jobs for regular people, and lots of poverty.
A smart professor named Dani Rodrik thinks our old ways of solving economic problems aren't working well enough anymore.
He says we need new ideas, like a "new playbook."
He believes that just like countries have used special plans to build things before, we need updated plans to help our planet and make sure everyone can have a good job.
He points to how China used smart planning to make solar and wind power cheaper, helping fight climate change.
Rodrik suggests we should look at similar smart planning for jobs in services, not just factories, and for new technologies that help workers, not just bosses.
He believes we don't need a total overhaul, but a smarter way of choosing our priorities and actions to make the world better for everyone.
Dani Rodrik argues the world needs a new economic playbook to address climate change, middle-class erosion, and poverty.
He proposes an updated form of industrial policy, drawing from successful but often overlooked practices.
China's green industrial policies, which lowered costs for renewable energy, are highlighted as an example of effective national strategies.
Rodrik suggests that future job creation should rely more on the services sector, rather than manufacturing, due to automation.
He advocates for public efforts to develop technologies that empower workers in service industries, not just monitor them.
- Who
- Dani Rodrik, professor of international political economy
- What
- Argues for a new economic playbook, updated industrial policies, and a focus on services to address climate change, middle-class erosion, and poverty.
- When
- Present day, reflecting current global challenges.
- Where
- Globally, with examples from China and the US.
- Why
- To tackle existential threats like climate change, social issues like middle-class erosion and poverty, which are exacerbated by rising authoritarianism and economic nationalism.
Conventional Economic Approaches
Rodrik's Proposed 'New Economics'
Focus of Industrial Policy
Conventional Economic Approaches
Historically focused on manufacturing for economic transformation and employment.
Rodrik's Proposed 'New Economics'
Should be updated to include green transition needs and rely more on services for job creation, as manufacturing is labor-shedding due to automation and competition.
Addressing Climate Change
Conventional Economic Approaches
Economists advocate for carbon taxes or cap-and-trade schemes as the most efficient methods.
Rodrik's Proposed 'New Economics'
Highlights China's success with green industrial policies, using a combination of subsidies, procurement, and public venture capital, implemented experimentally and iteratively.
Role of Technology in Services
Conventional Economic Approaches
Private corporations tend to use new digital technologies to monitor and maximize worker output.
Rodrik's Proposed 'New Economics'
Proposes a public effort to generate technologies that empower workers in traditionally low-paying service jobs, similar to efforts in renewables.
- Author
- Dani Rodrik
- Author's Affiliation
- Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School
- Author's Book
- Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate
- Key Challenges Identified
- Climate change, erosion of the middle class, poverty
- Proposed Solution
- An updated version of industrial policy, focusing on green transition and services for job creation, drawing on existing but often overlooked practices.
- Example of New Industrial Policy
- China's approach to renewable energy (solar, wind, electric batteries) through national goals, local implementation, and collaboration.