New Industrial Policy Observatory (NIPO)

With greater focus on the digital and energy transitions, as well as the intensification of geopolitical rivalry, policymakers advocate selective policy intervention more often. Until now there has been no dedicated initiative to track these industrial policy strategies/plans, policies, and awards. The benefits of such monitoring include:

• enhanced understanding of the global economic policy landscape,
• promoting informed decision-making and constructive dialogue among governments,
• enhanced transparency to limit distrust and trade tensions between trading nations.

The NIPO records state measures announced or implemented since the beginning of 2023 and goes beyond the GTA database in seven important respects:

• a distinction is made between (strategic) plans a state may have, the policies or regulations that that state enacts (perhaps to execute a strategic plan) and the firm-specific interventions (such as FDI authorization decisions or subsidy awards) that follow from the implementation of a policy or regulation,
• the stated motive of a government is recorded and tagged based on official sources,
• interventions are associated with pre-specified groups of products in strategic sectors: medical, semiconductors, critical minerals, military/civilian dual-use, low carbon technology, other advanced technology and IT or digital services,
• the range of policy interventions tracked is expanded to include several technology-related interventions,
• specific identification of horizontal measures i.e. measures that can affect lots of sectors but could still involve favouritism.
• for corporate subsidy awards, information on the subsidy value in USD million (when available),
• total value of goods trade covered by a state measure in USD million (when available).

Potential use cases of the NIPO database:

• Efficient tracking of industrial policy interventions by governments. A one-stop inventory that substitutes for alternative information collection and management systems.
• Useful facts and evidence for briefings of senior officials and executives.
• Valuable inputs for strategy discussions.
• Identification of alternative, potentially better, practices in other jurisdictions.
• Identification of tit-for-tat or retaliatory policy dynamics.
• Forensic tracking possible of specific product lines, sectors, and companies.

The methodology employed in collecting and processing information on industrial policy interventions was defined by Simon Evenett, Johannes Fritz, and Fernando Martín in collaboration with Adam Jakubik and Michele Ruta from the International Monetary Fund. Evidence collection for the NIPO is solely the responsibility of the Global Trade Alert team.

Users of the NIPO are encouraged to cite the following paper that describes the contents of the NIPO: Evenett, Simon, Adam Jakubik, Fernando Martín & Michele Ruta (2024) "The Return of Industrial Policy in Data." IMF Working Paper WP/24/1

Assembling quality datasets like NIPO requires expertise and resources. For this reason we are making the NIPO available on a paid basis. See the attachment on the left for details of our subscription services. Discounts are available for researchers.