Federal Intervention In Troubled Industry: Lessons From The New England Fisheries

The United States government has provided a range of assistance to help troubled industries. Such aid is of particular interest in debates over in‐ dustrial or competitiveness policy and in thinking about how effectively American government intervenes in the “micro economy.” The experience of aid to one industry, the New England fisheries, suggests that programs fail to achieve their ends for three major reasons. First, industry spokesmen and government officials have difficulty understanding the cause of in‐ dustry problems. Second, programs fail when they are inappropriate ap‐ proaches to solving the problems. Third, many programs have implementation difficulties. Findings on other industries suggest that the same kinds of problems interfere with the success of other programs. If government efforts to help industries often fail in ways that are somewhat predictable, then Congress and federal agencies should make the assistance more effective by taking specific steps. These efforts to improve programs, however, are problematic themselves and will not ensure success.