IPD-UNCTAD Joint Workshop on Industrial and Production Sector Policies in South America
The Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) at Columbia University and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are hosting a workshop on Industrial Policy and Productivity in South America on August 26, 2026, in Sao Paolo Brazil, at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Industrial policy targets the transformation of the structure of the economy in pursuit of a more desirable growth path for the economy – one that achieves faster structural change, including faster industrialization, a faster movement along the green transition, a faster transition to a service sector and knowledge-based economy, and a more rapid achievement of strategic independence. Identifying the set of policies capable of reigniting productivity growth is a critical challenge for the region’s development.
Historical experience and advances in economics have shown that markets by themselves are not efficient in guiding structural change. They are particularly inefficient in decisions that affect the pace and direction of innovation and structural transformation, and this is especially true if these “innovation market failures” interact with market failures associated with global public goods, such as climate change, and macroeconomic market failures, such as associated with pervasive macroeconomic externalities. The key will be to support and design policies that simultaneously accelerate a break to productivity stagnation, a movement away from commodity dependence, and a ‘green’ transition in South American developing economies with a simultaneous improvement in the quality of jobs and living standards. These interventions, including public expenditure and tax policies and regulatory policies, affect the choice of technology, the sectoral allocation of resources.
The current geopolitical landscape presents heightened risks for trade relations and the stability of global value chains. The new wave of tariffs has caused both direct and indirect disruptions in South America. There is also heightened uncertainty about the rules developing nations face in the implementation of industrial policy. In addition, the renewed threat of stagflation in many advanced economies in the wake of the US-Israel war with Iran dampens global growth perspectives with the potential to negatively affect monetary and fiscal policy spaces to promote forward-looking and innovative industrial and production sector policies.
The workshop will examine the decision processes of policymakers and private investors alike to understand how these developments influence the region’s economic stagnation, including the lack of long-term planning, weak institutions, human capital issues, excessive bureaucracy, and over-reliance on external factors. The workshop will discuss how these issues—which are barriers to development and to increasing investments—can be addressed.
The workshop will bring together experts from academia, the public and the private sector to discuss the following themes:
- Reassessing the role of industrial policy: theoretical and applied perspectives on the scope, objectives, and rationale for industrial policy in South America.
- Better understanding the critical supporting role of macroeconomic policies for industrial policy design: What can industrial policy learn from global macroeconomic dynamics and trade dynamics.
- Institutional design and political economy: theoretical and practical analyses of institutional arrangements for the design and implementation of industrial policies in the region, including mechanisms for policy and project targeting, adaptation, and discontinuation and the role of development banks and private finance.
- Country experiences: lessons from successes and failures across the region, identifying enabling conditions and common pitfalls.
- Regional integration for productivity: the role of transnational infrastructure, continental educational programs, and Mercosur-led initiatives and the Brasilia Consensus in creating economies of scale and boosting productivity.
- Effects of trade integration beyond the region.
The workshop will include a call for papers, reviewed by a scientific committee. Selected contributions will be considered for an edited volume that aims to advance the frontier of knowledge and provide actionable insights for policymakers in the region. IPD and UNCTAD aim for this work to create knowledge on institutional frameworks that enable the design and implementation of industrial policy in Latin America, including the global and regional governance that would facilitate effective and equitable industrial policy.
In addition to paper presentations, the workshop will feature panel discussions with academics, policymakers, and business leaders, creating a platform for dialogue essential to the design and implementation of effective industrial, innovation, and productivity-enhancing policies.
IPD and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) plan to partner with the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) and the Fundação Getulio Vargas for the organization of the workshop.
Scientific Committee
- Nelson Barbosa, Fundação Getulio Vargas; Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES)
- Stephanie Blankenburg, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- Clara Brenck, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
- Jeronim Capaldo, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- Marta Castilho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IE-UFRJ)
- Laura Carvalho, Open Society Foundations (OSF)
- Martin Guzman, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), Columbia SIPA
- José Antonio Ocampo, Columbia SIPA
- Jackson Schneider, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)
- Joseph Stiglitz, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), Columbia University
- Julia Torracca, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IE-UFRJ)
Call for papers and presentations: the deadline for submissions is May 25, 2026. Both paper submissions and presentation submissions such as PowerPoint files will be considered at this stage. Submissions should be sent to ipd@gsb.columbia.edu