The Constitutional Chaos of Industrial Policy

As its contemporary advocates employ the term, industrial policy imports a peculiar form of governmental intervention in the evolu- tionary process of the market economy.1 In its turn, governmental intervention implies legislative statutes, executive orders, adminis- trative rules and regulations, and judicial decisions which them- selves always at least potentially involve, at some stage, consider- ations of constitutional law. Therefore, judging the appropriateness of any industrial policy requires recourse, not simply to economics, hut also to the Constitution. This article catalogues the major types of industrial policy being promoted today and critically assesses them from the perspective of constitutional law...