The world requires inoculation against statist policies

In just over a week, the heads of G20 nations will meet in New Delhi. Along with issues such as climate change and sovereign debt, the global pandemic of industrial policy initiatives deserves to be on the agenda. From Magdeburg in east central Germany, where Intel was reportedly given subsidies of €7 billion to build a semiconductor factory, to a Taiwanese battery factory near Dunkirk in France lured by subsidies of €1.5 billion to the Micron Technology factory in Gujarat, more than two-thirds of which will be financed by the central and state governments, subsidies in the name of fostering…