The Case for a New U.S. Industrial Policy | Ian Fletcher
Hidden Forces
Demetri Kofinas
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 421 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ian Fletcher, one of America’s foremost experts on industrial policy, about the problems with free trade and how to revitalize the U.S. economy.
Ian and Demetri spend the first hour of the episode laying the foundation for the argument Fletcher and his co-author, Marc Fasteau, present in their book Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries. This portion includes a comprehensive critique of free-market economics and a systematic exploration of the tools that can be deployed to build critical industries and ignite flywheels of innovation essential to the long-term success of a modern economy.
In the second hour, Kofinas and Fletcher examine international and historical examples of both successful and unsuccessful implementations of industrial policy, discussing what went right, what went wrong, and how those lessons can inform the development and implementation of a successful industrial policy for the United States in the 21st century. The conversation concludes with a series of policy recommendations for the White House and Congress.
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
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Episode Recorded on 06/2/2025
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's up, everybody? My name is Demetri Kaffinus, and you're listening to Hidden Forces, |
| 0:06.2 | a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens, to challenge consensus narratives, |
| 0:13.8 | and learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world. |
| 0:18.7 | My guest in this episode is Ian Fletcher, one of America's foremost experts |
| 0:23.2 | on the problems of free trade and the promise of industrial policy, having predicted the demise |
| 0:28.5 | of the neoliberal trading system as early as 2007. Ian and I spent the first hour of our |
| 0:35.0 | conversation laying the foundations for the argument that he and Mark Fastow make in their book, industrial policy for the United States, winning the competition for good jobs and high-value industries. |
| 0:46.9 | This includes a comprehensive critique of free market economics and a systematic exploration of the tools that can be and have been deployed by countries |
| 0:56.1 | around the world, including the United States, in the service of building out critical |
| 1:00.9 | industries and igniting a flywheel of innovation that is critical for the long-term success |
| 1:06.2 | of a modern economy. In the second hour, Ian and I explore a series of international and historical |
| 1:12.4 | examples of both successful and unsuccessful implementations of industrial policy, including a |
| 1:18.6 | discussion about what went right, what went wrong, and how those lessons can be applied to the |
| 1:23.8 | development and implementation of a successful modern industrial policy for the United |
| 1:28.8 | States in the 21st century, along with a series of policy recommendations for the White |
| 1:34.1 | House and Congress. If you want access to all of this conversation, go to hiddenforces.com slash |
| 1:41.4 | subscribe and join our premium feed, which you can listen to on your mobile device using your favorite |
| 1:47.1 | podcast app just like you're listening to this episode right now. If you want to join in on the |
| 1:53.5 | conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls |
| 1:58.2 | with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events |
| 2:03.0 | and dinners. You can also do that on our subscriber page. And if you still have questions, |
| 2:08.4 | feel free to send an email to info at hiddenforces.io. And I, or someone from our team, will get |
... |
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